


Confessions of a Lovesick Turkey

by BitterNovember



Category: Soul Eater
Genre: F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-22
Updated: 2012-11-21
Packaged: 2017-11-19 06:04:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 34,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/570013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BitterNovember/pseuds/BitterNovember
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Soul has carried a torch for Maka for years The combination of the worst part-time job ever, an overheard conversation, and Black*Star in charge of Thanksgiving dinner may just work in Soul's favor to give him something to be thankful for</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Welcome to the Thanksgiving fic! This is my first AU, so I'm really nervous/excited. Also, this is dedicated to Mikey and Alik, my internet kids, who happen to share my birth month. Happy bday, guys! I hope everyone enjoys the story, and if so, would leave a review!

 

It was a dark and stormy night. A night where anything could happen. He sat in his grungy office, chair tilted up on the back two legs with his feet propped on the scuffed surface of his Good Will desk. The only friends he would ever need were snuggled together in the second drawer; a bottle for one hand and a bullet for the other. His lazy red eyes were trained on the door. All that was required to make his night perfect was for a leggy dame with ash blond hair to walk in, ready for him to solve her problems...

"Hey kid! That suit gets ruined, it's comin' outta your paycheck!"

Okay, so it wasn't a dark and rainy night. It was an overcast, drizzly afternoon, the cold water dripping off of Soul's beak and soaking through his cheap polyester feathers. He shook his bedraggled self, slinking around the side of the supermarket to head for the back door, his obscenely bright orange feet squelching through the puddles. Muttering curses under his breath as he awkwardly fought to open the door with his wings, he wondered, not for the first time, if he could quit this crap job and just make everyone homemade Christmas presents instead. If he suddenly developed a talent for crafts. Or the self discipline to sit his butt down and get them done. He stomped over to his locker, hands coming up to wrestle off his accursed head. Next year, he swore he was going to budget better or at least look for a nicer part time job. He just knew he was going to be haunted with nightmares of being TomTom the turkey forever.

After a heart stopping moment when the head wouldn't loosen and he thought he was stuck as a turkey forever, it finally gave way and Soul flung it to the bench with a mixture of disgust and relief. The stale odor of rotten produce hung in the air, dank and moist. He scrunched his nose, moving quickly so he could get out of there. The only saving grace was that none of his friends knew he was in this place. Imagining their reactions to seeing him in the gaudy turkey suit, with its half-witted googly eyes and floppy gozzle, he winced. They would never let him live it down, especially that loud mouth Black*Star.

"Evans! You out of that suit, yet?" came the gravelly voice of his boss, Mr. Simmons. A short and squat balding man with a greasy scalp and a perpetual cigar dangling out one side of his mouth, he was quickly becoming Soul's least favorite person.

"Almost, sir! What do you want me to do when I'm done?" he called back, modulating his voice into a facsimile of politeness.

"Ah, you can go ahead and knock off for the day. It's been pretty dead around here, no sense in you stayin'."

Soul leapt up, a large, sharp toothed grin breaking over his face. Maybe he had misjudged the man. Maybe he was a gruff but kind hearted soul. Maybe-

"Of course, I won't be payin' ya for a full days work. And be careful when you hang up that suit, or you'll be buyin' a new one."

Soul kicked off the polyester monstrosity viciously, jamming it onto its hook with more force than was strictly necessary.

"And be here all the earlier the next morning." Soul mumbled facetiously.

"And Evans! Be here an hour earlier tomorrow, got that?"

He closed his eyes. He would not hang his boss from a meat hook and smack him like a piñata. He would. Not.

"Yes sir, I'll be here."

He grabbed his black leather jacket from the locker and pulled it on along with the tattered remains of his coolness. Darting outside, he trotted to his motorcycle, dodging droplets of rain as best he could. At least, he thought as he drove towards the apartment he shared with his friend Maka, it was Tuesday so it wasn't his night to cook. He could go home, sit at the kitchen table and watch her scurry around to make dinner. Soul smiled to himself. She was so adorable in that ruffled apron. The smile slid off his face as he rounded the corner and saw the flashing date on the sign in front of the bank. Damn. It was Wednesday. Looked like it was his night in the frilly little apron after all.

Soul opened the door to the apartment, reaching in to bat on the light. He had to jiggle the door to get it to set in the frame, making a mental note to remind the landlord for the seven hundred and thirty-second time to get that fixed. Toeing his shoes off and kicking them under the bench in the entryway, floorboards creaked under his weight as he headed for the kitchen to figure out what he was going to throw together for dinner. In the doorway, he stopped, surprised. Maka was home early, bustling around the kitchen unloading groceries from two bags that sat on the gray Formica counter. She was standing on her tiptoes to shove a box of muffin mix onto the top shelf of a cabinet. Turning her head at the sound of his footsteps on the linoleum, she shot him one of her sunny smiles, the one that never failed to make his heart thud irregularly.

"Soul! You got to come home early!"

He crossed the room, grabbing a bag of shredded cheese and some stalks of green onion and putting them in the fridge. He had to be careful what he said; he did NOT want her to find out where he was working.

"Yeah, it was pretty dead because of the rain, so they let me go. Have to go in early tomorrow, though."

"You look beat. Why don't I make supper while you go get a shower?" she asked sympathetically.

"I think I'll take you up on that, even though I know you're just doing it to get out of washin' the dishes. Wait, what are you doing home? You should just now be gettin' out of class."

"Professor Jordan called in sick today. Since he's my last class, I got to come home. Are cheesy scrambled eggs with onions okay with you?"

His stomach let out a loud gurgle before he could answer, and she laughed.

"I'll make you a double portion. And be careful; the curtain rod is coming loose in the shower again."

"Great, another thing around here that's fallin' apart," he groaned. "I swear, we should just set up a cardboard box in the alley. It would be about the same quality, but at least we wouldn't have to pay rent."

"It's not that bad. And it's only for the next couple of years, then you can move out and find a better place." Maka reasoned, as she finished putting away the groceries.

Soul gave a noncommittal hum, his mind wandering as he headed for the shower. Looking for his own place would mean it would no longer be their place. Suddenly, this shabby little apartment was practically a palace. He turned on the bathroom light, watching the bulbs flicker twice before steadying to illuminate the worn, blue tiles in the cramped space.

Honestly, he could've gotten a much nicer place. But that would have meant living without Maka. There was no way she would agree to pay less than half of the rent and living expenses. So that left him in the position of choosing comfy living accommodations with luxuries like reliable heating and water, furniture that didn't look like it was picked up off a street corner and fellow residents that most likely weren't wanted by one or more branches of law enforcement. Maybe, like Black*Star said, if he just grew some balls and confessed to Maka, they could work out a better living arrangement.

But Soul just knew that he'd be shot down hard, and lose even the easy friendship he had shared with her for years. He snorted. If anyone had told him when he met her that he would end up being best friends with her, much less fall for her like a bag of bricks, he would have laughed his way into a tight white jacket. He had been a cocky little bastard, full of hurt, jealousy, and misdirected anger. She had been so far from what he thought he was looking for in a girl as to be completely off his radar; it was a fluke he had even spoken to her in the first place. A loud, obnoxious blue haired fluke named Black*Star...

XXX

At the beginning of his seventh grade year, he had moved from New York to Nevada to live with his grandmother. His jealousy over his brother's musical abilities combined with his parents' constant nagging and comparisons, had turned what would be in the range of normal tumultuous adolescence into an all out war. Tired of the constant fighting and yelling followed by long stretches of icy silence, both parties had agreed that he would be better off with his grandmother.

He had eagerly moved across the country, ready to put his family and anything to do with the piano behind him. From now on, he would devote himself to becoming the epitome of cool; looking out for number one and making sure he got whatever he wanted would be his top priority. The first day of school arrived and he had sauntered in like he owned the place, only to be nearly run over by a boy carrying the biggest water gun he had ever seen. That might have been easy to brush off; what wasn't easy was the fact that he was naked. Buck. Ass. Nekkid. The blue haired freak had come tearing down the hall, soaking every girl in sight with his gun. He had been cackling too madly to notice a stunned, wide-eyed Soul standing in his way to stop in time, sending them both crashing to the floor in a tangle of thrashing limbs and shouted curses.

"What's the idea of standing in the middle of the hall, ya freak!"

"It's the sane person's response when confronted by your bizarre brand of crazy!" Soul had growled in answer, kicking a leg out to receive a yelp, much to his satisfaction.

"Hey, no need to get violent!"

"Dude, the only dick that gets that close to me is mine. What the hell are you naked for, anyway?"

Recovering quickly, the slightly shorter boy had rolled to the side and sprung to his feet, his...dangly bits swaying far too close to Soul's face for comfort. He scrambled back, putting as much distance between himself and the nut house reject as the hallway would allow.

"BWAHAHAHA! IT'S A SIN TO COVER THIS GODLY BODY OF MINE, SO TODAY, ALL OF THE LITTLE PEOPLE GET A FREE PEEK!"

Soul blinked. This was, by far, the largest ego he had ever seen. And with the pretentious circles his family moved in, that was saying a lot.

"Okaaaay, that explains the rampant nudity, but what's the deal with the water gun?"

The other boy had abruptly ceased his ridiculous posturing to rub the back of his neck sheepishly. "Ah. That. Well, to be honest, sometimes I'm just kind of a dick."

Soul had doubled over laughing at this unexpected bit of honesty. A few hours and a much welcomed set of clothes later, the two were off on the start of a beautiful bromance. Their number was increased by one when they were joined by a tall, good looking brunette with a sweet, patient nature. The boy, whose name was Black*Star, introduced her as his number one worshipper, Tsubaki. She had seemed pleasant enough and Soul was fine with her hanging out with them. He must have appeared a little too fine, for a chat in the boy's bathroom with Black*Star left him in no doubt that the girl was to stay in the strictly hands-off category. That wouldn't be a problem. Tsubaki was definitely attractive enough to meet his standards, but she was too quiet and for a lack of a better word...nice, to hold more than a passing attraction for her. Once he had made clear to Black*Star that he thought she was a nice girl but not his type, they were able to settle back into a more relaxed atmosphere.

For the first two weeks of school they had fallen into a pattern; the three shared several classes and traveled the halls together, occupying the same table in the cafeteria and the library. Black*Star was a constant source of amusement, forever pulling pranks and stunts designed to land him in the center of attention. Soul hadn't been surprised to learn that Black*Star had been the school clown since kindergarten. Or the fact that he was the star of the school wrestling team and was wickedly good at martial arts. No, the shocker had been the fact that in spite of how outrageously annoying he could be, he was, in fact, fairly popular. Tsubaki was as well, her family consisting of a long line of high end security specialists, and she herself was the heir to her parents successful martial arts studio. Toss in the fact that she was a knock-out and it was no surprise that everyone loved her.

Being taken in by the two of them automatically propelled Soul to near the top levels of social standing and he figured with a little effort, he could become one of the school's top dogs. The tiny, honest part of himself he had shoved in the back of his mind told him it was a stupid idea to go through all this trouble to be accepted and for all the wrong reasons, but he told that voice to take a flying leap and set about ignoring it entirely. And that worked, until twelve days later at lunch.

He had been half-heartedly poking at a mysterious substance on his lunch tray while sitting at what had become their usual table. Tsubaki, who had given up on trying to get Black*Star off of the table, was mulling over the benefits of putting him on a leash when the subject of her frustration gave a joyful shout. "Yo Maka! Over here! Come bask in the presence of your god!"

Soul had followed the direction of his friend's gaze across the crowded room, dispassionately taking in the appearance of the girl who was weaving through the sea of bodies. From this distance, he couldn't make out much, but the first thing he noticed was that her ash blond hair was done up in pigtails. He sneered. Wasn't she a little old for that childish style? And the white button down and black sweater vest she wore screamed nerd. He was already summing her up as a flat-chested priss that wasn't worth his time when her lower half came into view. Her black and red checked skirt was surprisingly short, showing off unexpectedly toned legs that ended in a pair of kick-ass, buckled black boots.

Before he had more time to make any other observations Black*Star had leaned down to speak in a loud whisper. "Heads up. That's my friend Maka. She's been away while her folks were in the middle of a nasty divorce and she hasn't taken it well. So as a guy, you're startin' out with negative points. Just take things easy and she'll eventually come around."

"Why the hell should I care what the little nerdlet thinks of me?"

Soul barely registered his friend's wince when something hard crashed down on his head, making his cranium feel as if it would split like an egg. He lay with his face smashed into the table for several seconds, his mind trying to process this assault on his noggin.

"Aaaand that's why you should care." Black*Star deadpanned. "Hey, Maka. This is Soul. He just moved from New York to be my latest worshipper!"

"Hmm. Well you better get your godly butt in gear. When I was getting my food, I noticed they were running low on chili dogs."

That was all Black*Star needed to hear. He gabbed Tsubaki by the hand and loped off to barge his way to the head of the lunch line.

"You look way too laid back to be hanging out with a moron like 'Star, and you guys seem pretty tight already, which is rare for him. What's the story?"

Soul looked up and was instantly hit with the most electric pair of green eyes he had ever seen. They seemed to burn right through him to weigh his soul and he had the uncomfortable feeling it was found lacking. He brushed the sensation off. She wasn't the kind of person he planned to surround himself with. Still, he couldn't help his normal, sarcastic manner of speaking, something he had tried to suppress during his short time here but which, for some reason, he felt like letting out with this girl.

"Eh, you know. The usual. Public naked male bonding. That sorta thing."

If Soul had been hoping to shock her, he had failed. Maka merely slumped into the seat next to him with a weary groan. Bringing a hand up to massage the bridge of her nose, she asked, "So he's gotten naked already? Good grief, I've only been gone two weeks! Poor Tsubaki. I hope she at least remembered to carry around a spare set of clothes."

"Wait, what? You mean he gets naked on a regular basis?"

"Yeah, he does the whole, 'showing off the godly body' thing fairly often." She rolled her eyes. "Sorry if you thought it was meant specially for you."

"Oh the inside, my heart is breaking." he drawled, causing her to snicker. He needed to get rid of her fast. He was starting to like her, and that wouldn't do.

"Shouldn't you be goin' to sit with your friends?" he asked, hoping she would get the message. He didn't want to be too rude; his skull had yet to regain its former, trench free state.

She cocked her head to the side. "I already am. I've always eaten with Black*Star and Tsubaki."

"Really? It's hard to imagine you being friends with Black*Star. Tsubaki I could understand, but..."

"'Star and I have been friends since we could walk. His dad works a lot, so he used to practically live at my house."

"Ah. Childhood friends. I guess that explains why he feels like he has to hang out with someone lik-" he cut himself off as Maka began to stroke the four hundred page volume of death that was in front of her on the table. Never had he been so terrified of wood pulp.

"Someone like me? Like a nerd, is that it?" she withdrew her hand from the book with what Soul would come to learn was uncharacteristic restraint.

"Well, you know, you guys are just...different. I mean, it's fine when you're kids, but when you get older, lines and boundaries start to form." he explained, mentally facepalming over how stupid that sounded. Really, if she just passed the book, he'd gladly smack himself and save her the trouble.

Those eyes of hers were doing that funny penetrating thing again.

"That"s stupid." she stated bluntly. "What's the point in having lines? They just cut you off from the things that make you happy. Lines were meant to be crossed, stepped on, and ground into the dust."

These rebellious sounding words sounded strange coming from a girl he instinctively knew was a rule follower, but they struck a chord in him.

She pointed to a pair of girls sitting over at the popular table. "You see them? How they're whispering and giggling together? They actually hate each other. And that guy there? He's in love with her."

Soul's eyes followed her gesturing finger to a plain looking girl at another table.

"None of them are happy. They just keep faking it because they're all afraid to step out of those stupid lines. I may not follow their conventions, because I don't really give a damn what most people think of me, but with the friends I do have, I enjoy being with and I know I can count on them. It doesn't win me any social points, but at least I'm happy."

He twiddled his fork, thick white hair falling over his forehead to cover his eyes from her scrutiny. Watching the kids she was talking about, he had come to the sick realization that they were just like his family and their friends. Wasn't that the reason he had left in the first place? To get away from all that stifling, hypocritical pretentiousness? Then why the hell had he been about to dive right back into it like it was something to be proud of? He didn't know. But thinking of the past two weeks with Black*Star and Tsubaki, he realized that in climbing the social ladder, he would actually be trading down. And that meant there would be no getting to know this girl who he felt some strange fascination for. Even if she was abnormally violent.

A lazy smirk formed on his face. Screw acceptability. He would form his own brand of cool.

For the first time, he was able to meet her gaze without flinching.

"You're right. Fuck the system. Besides, I'd kinda miss the little naked blue monkey."

"He does tend to grow on you. Like a stubborn case of shower mold."

He laughed, throwing his head back and showing his mouthful of razor sharp teeth.

"I'm exhausted just being around him at school! And you said he stays at your place a lot. How do you deal with that? Is he a relative or somethin', or were your parents friends with his?"

It was her turn to play with the silverware, her voice quiet when she finally answered.

"How much has Black*Star told you about himself?"

"Uh, not a whole lot. The subject hasn't come up much. Why?"

"It's not my story to tell. But, if he ever does tell you about his family," she leaned into his personal space, her expression promising that her weapon of choice would be exchanged for something much sharper and infinitely more pain inducing if he displeased her.

"You better not treat him any differently. Got that?"

Scowling, he leaned away from her. "Why would I treat him any different just 'cause of his family? 'Star is 'Star; whatever the hell his family is doesn't change that." he muttered, trying not to think how much that sounded like his own situation.

Her expression morphed into a such a radiant smile that he had to rub the back of his head to see if he had been hit again. Before he could wrap his addled thirteen year old male mind around the situation, Black*Star and Tsubaki returned, bearing a tray stacked high with a startling amount of chili dogs. Soul watched in awe as one disappeared into the other boy's mouth, while Tsubaki and Maka looked on with longsuffering resignation.

"Dude, you really should get your name changed to Black*Hole."

Black*Star noticed how Maka laughed at the joke, her strange acceptance of what would normally be labeled as 'The Enemy' and treated with disdain. He quickly swallowed his third dog and gave her large, begging puppy eyes.

"So whaddya say, Maka? Can we keep him?"

Soul held his breath. He knew that Black*Star was mostly joking, but he also knew that this girl's verdict carried a lot of weight. His moronic words from earlier had probably doomed him, no matter how brightly she had just smiled at him. He had seen enough lying smiles in his life to not expect anything different from her. The bitter taste of rejection rose to the back of his throat, his fingers curling around the edge of his tray and leg muscles tensing in anticipation of his dismissal.

"I know I'm letting myself in for an endless source of frustration, but if you promise to clean up his messes, I suppose it's alright. He seems pretty cool."

"Awesome! You're in, dude!"

"Great, I've been taken in. Whose face do I have to lick?" he snarked, hiding how happy he was.

Maka smiled sweetly. "Well, since you've already gotten naked with him, I guess you'll be licking his."

Black*Star choked on his ninth dog, Tsubaki patting his back while trying to smother her snickering.

XXX  
Soul grinned, remembering that day as he tested the water of the shower. They had learned the hard way never to trust that it would be the temperature they set it on. Finding it satisfactory, he stepped in, careful not to tug too hard on the curtain hanging on the loose rod.

XXX

They had become a fairly inseparable group after that, their number growing with the addition of Kid and the Thompson sisters about four months later. When they weren't at school, they were usually bouncing back and forth between each other's houses, though more often than not it was Maka hanging out at his place since she hated going home to her father. His grandmother was ecstatic that he had found a group of good kids to be friends with (even counting Black*Star's pranks and outlandish behaviour) and she had taken an especial liking to Maka, teaching her how to cook and knit, even going so far as to insist she call her Nana as Soul did.

She had been shy at first, but since her only living grandparents were in Japan, she quickly became used to the idea of having a surrogate grandmother, going to the older woman when she needed advice. That didn't happen too often, for as she and Soul got to know each other better, they fell into the habit of telling one another everything. Being close friends with four girls meant he learned more than most boys his age would ever want to, but once past the initial gross out factor, Soul realized it was an opportunity to harvest invaluable knowledge about the female species. Through careful listening and keen observation, he learned how to weather the hormonal storm known as 'woman'. That wasn't to say that he still didn't sometimes do something incredibly stupid resulting in painful retribution, but he did it far less than boys who only associated with other guys.

He also learned that while his first assumption that Maka was a nerd supreme was accurate, she was also one of the school's top athletes. She was in both track and lacrosse, and Soul always found himself inexplicably jealous of her stick whenever he watched her out on the field, a thought he chose not to dwell too much on. Being around people that were involved in sports caused his own casual interest in basketball to evolve from spectator to player, joining the team at the encouragement of his friends. Finding something that he did well helped him ignore the memory of his failure at the piano, something that only Maka was aware of. He had once reluctantly told her all about his family and their disappointment in his musical abilities and while she had expressed an interest in hearing him play, she had told him that she wouldn't push him and would wait until he felt comfortable doing so. He had been flattered by her interest, grateful for her understanding.

They were a tight knit bunch, with the bond between him and Maka being subtly stronger. And for two years, that was great. For two years, that was enough. But then it was like he had mutated into an insufferable bastard overnight, with Maka being the one to take the brunt of it. Soul frowned as he remembered, lathering up a washcloth with the bar of black soap.

Soul had always had a sarcastic nature and he loved to tease the people he was closest to. This of course meant that Maka was pretty much his favorite target. Black*Star, being of the same persuasion, ensured that Maka got more than her fair share of heckling. This was all done in good fun until about the middle of ninth grade, when suddenly, their jabs became a little harsher, more hurtful. These comments tended to focus on her appearance and general lack of sex appeal. 'Tiny tits' was a favorite comment of theirs, which wasn't really fair. It was true she didn't have overly large breasts like the three other girls, but she wasn't totally flat, either. She was perfectly proportioned to match the rest of her figure. Then they went on and on about how impossible it would be for her to attract a guy and that, added to the fact that they had both begun to pull away from her and ignore her when they weren't teasing, was making her miserable.

One day it was too much, and she had spun away from their mocking faces to run off down the hall, both of them stunned to see tears forming in her eyes. Maka, the girl who never cried for anything. And that's when meek, quiet Tsubaki had enough, rounding on them in a mother bear like fury.

"I don't know what the hell your problem is," she growled in a very un-Tsubaki like manner, "but you've been absolute shits to Maka for months now, and it needs to stop! What happened? You all used to get along so well!"

Soul scowled. "It's not that bad, she's just overreacting."

"Overreacting? How would you react if two of your best friends started treating you like you were garbage?"

Black*Star kicked the floor with the toe of his sneaker, something he always did when he knew he was in the wrong. "Ah, come on, 'Baki. It's not like she really gives a damn what we think." he muttered sulkily.

Tsubaki surprised them by smacking him on the shoulder. "Of course she does! It's true that Maka could care less what most people think of her, but she cares greatly for the both of you, and your attitude is hurting her. Or are you going to stand there and tell me you didn't notice the tears in her eyes?"

"I...guess we might have been a little hard on her. Come on, Soul. Let's go see if we can catch her."

Tsubaki smiled her normal, cheerful smile. "Good! I'll go join the others in the cafeteria. We'll save you some seats."

They watched her disappear into the throng of hungry students before turning in the direction that Maka had gone. Walking in silence for a few minutes, Black*Star with his arms crossed and Soul slouching along with his hands jammed deep in the pockets of his orange hoodie, Black*Star finally spoke up.

"Ya know, Tsubaki's right. You have been kinda a douche lately."

Soul stopped walking. "Me? You've been just as bad. What's your deal, anyway? I thought you guys were best friends."

"Yeah, I thought so too," he snorted. "but ever since you came along, she talks to me less and less. She used to tell me everything, ya know? Now, half the time if I wanna know what's goin' on with her, I have to find out from you. It's like she doesn't even need me anymore."

A thought struck Soul, his stomach churning with something he couldn't quite place.

"Do...do you have a thing for Maka?" he asked hesitantly.

Black*Star's eyes bugged out in horror as he waved his hands frantically.

"What? No! Hell no! Dude, I'm all about Tsubaki!" he calmed down as they began to walk.  
"I dunno. It's just...Maka's always been like a sister, and lately it's felt like I've been losin' her. Sounds stupid now that I've said it out loud. But what about you?" he nudged Soul's arm.

Soul sighed heavily, running his fingers through his bangs and tugging at the white strands in frustration. "Your excuse is better than mine. I...arrgh, this is so lame! I don't know what the hell's goin' on. I mean, it's always been like this, but recently it's gotten worse. There's just something about her that frustrates me, I guess. I feel funny every time I look at her, and I keep having these strange...dreams." he stuttered, blushing.

Black*Star shot his friend a shrewd look out of the corner of his eye. He had a feeling that he knew what was up. His mouth opened to voice his opinion, then quickly snapped shut. This was something that was better if Soul figured out for himself.

"And the thing that really pisses me off is the fact that I can tell whatever it is, doesn't affect her at all! So I guess maybe I snapped a little, and I've been takin' it out on her. I've been really uncool. I just hope we haven't pissed her off too bad."

By this time they had made it to the library, where they had known that Maka would instinctively retreat. Coming around a corner, they caught sight of her, but she wasn't alone. Two sophomore boys were with her, appearing to be chatting her up. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and her lips were curved into a small smile. The boys ducked behind a shelf to watch what was going on.

"So Maka, how about going to that new movie that's coming out on Friday? I hear it's supposed to be really good." The boy that spoke was the taller of the two and Soul recognized him as one of the best players on the soccer team. He had wavy brown hair and bright blue eyes, and most of the girls in the school would give their right arm to go out with him. He hadn't really shown much interest in dating, but the way he was looking at Maka seemed to suggest that he had become very interested indeed.

Soul watched in dry mouthed dread, his world tilting sharply as his sweaty hands clung onto the edge of a shelf. Sudden realization hit him with the force of Black*Star slamming an opponent into the mat. The funny feeling he got whenever he looked at Maka. The less than platonic dreams. The irritation over what was a perfectly good friendship. That was his problem.

Friendship was no longer cutting it; Soul wanted more than what he had with her, and if he thought about it, had for some time. Of course, it was just his luck that he'd figure it out now that she was being asked out by one of the most popular boys in the school. After the recent blows to her self esteem, she was probably thrilled to be getting this kind of attention. He had most likely lost what slim chance he had ever had with her, if she didn't out and out hate him now. He grit his teeth, waiting for the sounds of girlish joy that he would give anything to have directed at him. It didn't happen.

"You mean like a date? Um, I'm sorry, but I'm really not interested in you like that. You should ask Tricia out; I think the two of you would get along well."

Soul released his held breath at her gentle let down, but tensed back up when he saw that the guy wasn't going to drop it.

The toothpaste commercial perfect smile slipped a little. "Come on, just one date? It's not like you're going out with Swiss Army mouth, are you?"

Maka's spine stiffened, her pleasant demeanor vanishing like the last slice of pepperoni on pizza day. "What did you just say?"

"You know, the freak who's always acting like he's so cool, even though he has a face that would stop a train."

"Going by what's said in the girls' locker room, there's not a damn thing wrong with his face." she stated flatly.

He narrowed his eyes, a sneer marring his good looks. "I guess he wouldn't be so bad if he didn't always hang around that other moron. The idiot who's always walking around like he's greater than god." he laughed maliciously, trading high fives with the blond sycophant at his side.

No one in the room saw the double Maka-Chop coming; one minute the jocks were laughing like Beavis and Butthead, the next they were laid out on the floor, clutching their bloody skulls.

She loomed over them menacingly. "Their names are Soul and Black*Star, and they happen to be two of my best friends. I'll be the first to admit they're not perfect. They can be total goofballs and lazy as all get out, and...and sometimes they can be a little on the jerky side..."

The boys behind the bookshelf cringed at her faltering words.

"But! They're still really great guys that I know I can count on, and they don't go talking shit about other people behind their backs just to make themselves look better. If I hear you've been bad mouthing them again, I will hunt you down and do unspeakable, impure things with my lacrosse stick. Do we understand each other?"

At their shaky nods, she turned and walked away, but stopped after a few steps to face them, her lips curling into a smile wicked enough to rival Black*Star at his cruelest.

"And if they go around acting like they're better than the rest of you guys?" she waited to have their full attention before continuing. "It's because they are."

She spun on her heel, the motion causing her short skirt to flip up a little. Soul and Black*Star watched her leave, before turning to look at one another with shame filled faces. Had they really been so stupid as to think that just because Maka wasn't as demonstrative as other people that she cared for them any less? That her less than-stellar-communication skills meant they didn't matter to her? She had just turned down one of the top five most sought after males in the whole school just to defend them, after they had acted like complete pricks because of their own stupid insecurities. Silently, they agreed that it was time to put their own respective prides down and go grovel for forgiveness. They were just about to run after her when the other two boys began to speak.

"That stupid little bitch! Who does she think she is?"

"She's a loser, anyway. You could do a lot better. So, are you gonna let her get away with treating you like that?"

"Hell no! She's gonna get it when she least expects it! We're totally gonna mess her up-yarggh!"

While they had been plotting, a hand clamped firmly on each of their shoulders. Slowly, they turned their heads, to be confronted with maniacal leering faces surrounded by a demonic aura.

"Did you hear that, Swiss Army Mouth? It sounds like these two were planning on being bad boys. God doesn't like bad boys. Don't you think we should help them repent? For the good of their souls?"

"I do, Black*Star, I do! Let's show them the error of their ways!"

A short time later, they emerged from the restroom, drying their carefully washed hands on their pants. "So. From the look on your face back there, you finally figured out what your problem is with Maka?"

Soul bit the inside of his cheek as they hurried down the hall. "Yeah. It all makes sense now. I feel like a complete fool for not gettin' it before now."

"Hey, no problem! All you have to do is tell her and I'm sure it'll all work out!"

"NO!" he shouted, before regaining his control. "No, I can't do that yet. You know she got burned with the whole deal with her parents. She's not ready for that kind of relationship right now. I'll tell her when the time is right, just don't say anything, okay?" he gave his friend a grin as weak and wilted as week old lettuce.

Black*Star wasn't buying it, but for once decided not to be pushy. "Whatever you say, man. Hey, isn't that Maka over by the vending machines?" he didn't wait for an answer, but shot down the hall, picking the girl up and twirling her around as she screamed to be let down. She was finally released as Soul caught up to them, just in time to hear Black*Star finish apologizing. He hung back a little until they were done, then approached her with a hesitancy he hadn't felt since they had first met.

"Maka..."

"Soul?"

"Argh, I'm not good at this, okay? Look, I've been actin' like a complete bastard for the last couple of months, runnin' my mouth and sayin' really stupid stuff. I'm really sorry. Do you think you can forgive me?"

"I...maybe..."

"Nana's making lasagna tonight."

"Do you really think you can buy my forgiveness with food?" she said, fighting to keep the corners of her lips from twitching.

Soul still noticed, and pressed his advantage. "And her special garlic breadsticks."

"Oh, well, see, that's totally different. Of course all is forgiven now."

They laughed a little, then sobered as Soul reached out to gently tug a pigtail. "Maka, I didn't mean those crappy things I said. Any of it. So don't go thinkin' that that's how I see you, 'cause it's not, okay? Are we cool now?"

There was a moments hesitation when his heart stopped beating, before she gave him one of her special smiles. "Yeah, Soul. We're cool."

XXX

And they had been. He had toned down the teasing for a while as an added apology and after a few days, they had gone back to normal. Soul dried off on one of the cheap, threadbare green towels that hung from a wall hook, then wrapped it around his waist as he walked to his room for some clothes. Now, four and a half years later, he was stuck in this current dilemma. Dante had only gotten it partially right; he had forgotten to mention that there was a secret, boss level of hell known as the friend zone. Easy to enter, nearly impossible to escape, he was forever doomed to go through the motions of friendship, feigning satisfaction.

He slid on a pair of jeans and an Ozzfest T-shirt, and headed back out to the kitchen, already smelling the eggs in the frying pan. Sitting down carefully so as not to loosen the weak leg of the chair any further, he propped his chin in his hands while he watched her finish up. Something was off. Usually she hummed while she cooked, or at least listened to the small radio that sat on the counter. But now she moved silently, stiffly, like she did when there was an unpleasant subject to be brought up. She slid a pile of golden, fluffy eggs, swirled with bright orange cheese and flecks of green onion, onto one of the plates she had set out and carried it over to set in front of him. Her face was pale, her features set.

"Maka? What's up? You don't look so good."

She grabbed her own plate of food and sat down in the chair opposite, her fork pushing her eggs back and forth on the plate before she gave up and looked at him.

"Soul, there's something I need to tell you."

He pushed his meal away, his appetite disappearing at her words. That phrase never meant anything good. Was she not doing well in school? Was she moving out? DEAR GOD, WAS SHE DYING?!

"What is it?"

She twiddled her pigtail nervously. "You know how since Nana went to Germany to visit your  
uncle, we've been invited to Kid's place for Thanksgiving dinner?"

"Yeeeaah?" he answered, trying to figure out where this was going.

"Well, We're still on for that, but..."

DAMMIT GET TO THE POINT SO I CAN FREAK OUT.

"Black*Starisgoingtobetheonecooking thisyear."

Blink.

Blink.

Words being processed for meaning...

"OH HELL NO!"'

"Soul, I'm sure it won't be that bad!"

He stood and began to pace around the kitchen, while Maka watched with uneasy amusement, worried he would refuse to come.

"It won't be that bad, huh? Are you forgetting the whole Home Ec brownie disaster?"

"Oh come on! That could've happened to anybody!"

"Maka, there were bits of hardboiled eggs in those brownies! How does a person even do that?"

"...Okay, fine! it's probably going to be a disaster of epic proportions, but for some reason he's dead set on doing it and nothing anyone says is changing his mind. You know how he gets when he's like that."

Soul slumped back into his seat, thunking his head down on the table with a groan.

"Look, I'll make it up to you. If it really turns out as bad as it has the potential to, we'll have our own Thanksgiving the next day."

A bright red eye peered out between damp clumps of white hair.

"I'll make all of our favorite foods, and we can watch action movies and hang out in the living room all day. I won't even make you help with the cooking or the dishes!"

This interested him. Not the fact that that he wouldn't be expected to cook; he actually had grown to enjoy that, thanks to the cooking lessons he had had with Maka and Nana. He had only intended to hang around the kitchen to mooch free food, when his grandmother had suggested he learn as well. He had made the mistake of scoffing that cooking was woman's work, and had been rewarded with a book and a wooden spoon whacked against either side of his head by a pair of furious females. No, it was the fact that he was getting out of dish duty that had him wavering. They both despised doing dishes, since the dishwasher was apparently only there for decorative purposes. And a full day's pass to be lazy...

"Weeeell, maaaaayyybe..."

Sensing her advantage, Maka stood and circled the table to whisper in his ear seductively.

"I'll even let you cheat at Monopoly."

His head came up. "And I get to be the top hat?"

Ooooh, he was good. "Yeah, yeah, you can be the hat. So will you come?"

"Alright. As long as you don't expect me to help 'Star in the kitchen. There are eight hundred and fifty-three ways he could kill me in there, and none of them are a cool way to go."

"I wouldn't ask you to. There's no way I want to have to call Nana and tell her that her grandson has died in some freak blender accident."

Having agreed on the terms, they began to eat their meal. A thought struck Soul.

"And the next day, it'll be just the two of us, right? We don't have to invite the others?" he tried to ask this casually, as if whether he spent the day alone with her or smashed in the crowded space with all their other friends didn't matter.

"Just the two of us. There's no way I'm cooking alone for that many people. Why, did you want everyone to come over?"

"Nah, it'll be nice to have a quiet day. After we all, we're gonna be with them all day the day before."

Now he was internally cheering on Black*Star to screw up the meal. Anything that gave him an excuse for some quality alone time with Maka was OK with him. A day of food, movies and board games...it was almost like a date. Or as close to a date has he was ever likely to get with her, he thought as he swallowed the last bite of his eggs years, Black*Star and Kid had been trying to get him to confess to Maka, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it, though he had come close several times.

Truth be told, it wasn't even the almost paralyzing fear of rejection that stopped him. It was the fact that Maka had put aside her distrust for men when it came to him, and he was afraid of losing her faith in him. If she knew how he felt, would she still be comfortable enough to come to him with her problems? To open herself up to him as freely as she always had? He didn't think so. Most likely it would just become awkward between them and he would rather go on as they were now than take the risk of losing the closeness they shared. Maka was too important to him for that. Even if it meant that he had to one day watch as she found happiness with another man.

"Soul? Is there something wrong with the eggs? You look like you don't feel well."

He gave her a sickly grin, trying to banish the images of Maka and some strange guy surrounded by little mini Makas in a house with a picket fence from his mind.

"Nah, I'm good. Was just thinkin' about that paper that I have to finish."

Her expression switched from concerned to scolding in an instant. "If you wouldn't wait until the last minute to do your work, you wouldn't have to worry so much. When is it due?"

"Uh, the day before break starts, so...day after tomorrow?" he flinched, seeing her about to launch into a diatribe about his study habits. "Relax, Maka! I'm not just starting it. It's actually done, I just need to go back and tweak a few things."

She sat back in her chair, nerd sensibilities appeased. "Good. I was worried that whatever this part time job you have now was going to affect your work. Do you want me to look it over before you turn it in?"

"That'd be great. I'll leave it out for you on my way to work in the morning." he stood up and gathered the dishes from the table and carried them over to the sink. Twisting the knob, he got out the dish soap as the water gurgled up through the rusty pipes to splurt out in gushes before flowing in a steady stream. As he picked up a yellow sponge and began to scrub at a plate, Maka came up to lean against the counter next to him.

"So when are you going to tell me what this job is? You've been awfully mysterious about it. If you didn't look so miserable and exhausted when you come home every day, I'd think you were off with one of those girls that follows you around on campus."

He snorted. She was tenacious when she was trying to weasel answers from him. "Not tellin'. All you need to know is that it's the lousiest, most uncool job ever."

Maka rolled her eyes, taking the newly washed plate to stack it in the cabinet. "Only you would be bent all out of shape over the cool factor of a job. Are you working at a fast food place?"

"Nope."

"Party clown?"

"Dear God, no!"

"Soul, you're not...selling your body, are you?"

"Why? Would you like to know what I charge for my services?" he asked, grinning lecherously and waggling his eyebrows.

She giggled, shoving his arm. "No, you perv! I'm just trying to figure out where you disappear to for hours every day. Everyone has been looking, but we still can't find you anywhere!"

"And if I have any kind of luck at all, you never will. Just squeal extra hard over whatever I get you for Christmas and it'll all be worth it."

Placing a hand on his shoulder, she became serious. "You know, you don't have to get me anything expensive. You don't even have to get me anything at all, if money's so tight that you have to work at a place that you obviously hate."

"Of course I'm gonna get you a present," he scoffed. "Things aren't that bad. I just thought I had more set aside than I did. But I've almost earned enough, so it's all good."

"Are you sure? It's just that you always seem to get me something nicer than you do everyone else. I wouldn't mind if you spent less."

His hands nearly slipped on the bowl he was washing. Shit, she had noticed! He had always try to downplay it, but he could never quite resist doing something more special for Maka than he did with the others. He had thought he had gotten away with it, but he shouldn't have been surprised. She was always far too observant for his own good, a fact that had been ingrained, with force, into his skull on numerous occasions.

"Well, I won't be able to give you the Ferrari, like I had planned. You'll have to settle for the Honda."

"I would laugh, but I'm too afraid that you might not be joking. Honestly Soul, you need to learn that you don't have to buy me such extravagant gifts!"

"I have a giving nature, so sue me. Just call me Santa."

"I would, if I thought that would get you into a santa suit. I've always been disappointed that I could never get you into any kind of a costume, even on Halloween."

"You know how much I hate costumes. They're so un-"

"Uncool, yes, I know. If you wouldn't be so overprotective of your cool guy image, you could have a lot more fun."

"I can have fun without bein' forced to wear those ridiculous rabbit ears you're always trying to stick on my head, thank you very much. And there's nothin' wrong with being cool. It's my hobby, like concussing people with literature is yours."

Maka huffed, sticking her nose in the air. "Fine, I was going to finish those dishes for you, but I'll have to be going. I haven't filled my daily quota of head bashing yet."

He flicked some water at her, scattering a few droplets on her face and the front of her shirt. "I notice you waited to make that offer when I only had two things left to wash."

Laughing, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders in a hug. "You know my wicked ways so well, yet you still love me! I'm gonna go get my homework done. Pappa wants me to come over for a visit tomorrow, so I need to get it out of the way so I can deal with his drama. Will you be home for lunch?"

"No, I'll just pick somethin' up on my break. Try not to bust up your old man too much. Doesn't he leave on that business trip soon?"

"Yeah, he and Kid's dad fly out tomorrow night. That's why I'm going over in the afternoon, so I won't have to stay very long. Anyway, just leave your paper up on your computer and I'll go over it before I leave. Night, Soul!"

"Night Maka."

He finished up with the dishes, then headed to his room, his thoughts still on his roommate. She always hated visiting her dad. It wasn't as bad as it used to be, but she still blamed him for cheating on her mother, for tearing their family apart. Plunking into his desk chair, he stared unseeingly at the screen. The whole mess with her father was probably why she had shot down every guy that had ever asked her out. While he was glad that she had never gone out with any of them, he had hoped that she would thaw enough that he could make his own advances without potentially losing her as a friend. Maybe he should go ahead and tell her how he felt; that he was in love with her, but that he understood if she wanted to be nothing more than friends.

Getting the brush-off would hurt, but it would be better than being stuck in this god-awful limbo. Yeah, he would just man up and tell her while they were having their date-that-wasn't- a-date. That way, when she got done telling him, in a nice, polite way, that there was no way in hell that she would date him so quit thinking it or she'd have to move out, he could slink out to lick his wounds on a long bike ride. Yes, that's what he would do. Just flat out tell her where he stood, then take the emotional letdown like the cool guy he appeared to be and not the needy little bastard that he actually was. Sighing, he hunkered down over his keyboard, glad that he was finally going to resolve things.

Knowing, full well, that in the end he was just going to chicken out like the last ninety-seven times he had attempted this.

A scream rang through the night, a harbinger of dark, unspeakable horrors that no man should have to endure.

Alright, so it wasn't exactly a scream. it was shrill enough to pass for one, but it was just his alarm clock. The last part was a pretty accurate description of his job, though, and he briefly considered burrowing back into the warm burrito that was his bedding. But the thought of Maka's face on Christmas morning when she opened the envelope containing their round trip tickets to Florence to visit her mother during spring break gave him the energy to stretch one arm out of his comforter covered heaven and slam his hand down to shut off the alarm. As blessed silence fell, he had a brief setback, but he struggled valiantly, swinging his legs over the edge of the mattress to set his feet on-DAMN THAT FLOOR WAS COLD!

Oh goody. He was fully awake now. Wait. It shouldn't be that cold. Or that quiet. Muttering colorful curses to himself about taking his Nana up on her offer of paying for a nicer place, stubborn bookworms be hanged, Soul moved quickly to the door, hissing at each step. Sticking his head into the hallway that was colder than Santa's balls, his suspicions were confirmed. Once again, the heat had gone out, for the third frickin' time this month. Which meant that they were probably without water, too. Which meant that Maka wouldn't be able to take the shower that she so looked forward to in the mornings. Which meant she would be grumpy. Which meant he'd better get his butt out of there, fast.

Darting back into his room, he tossed on yesterdays jeans and a faded red sweatshirt. Running his fingers through his hair would have to suffice for primping. It wasn't like anyone was going to see him, anyway. Making sure that his doc was open on his computer for Maka, he left his room, stepping carefully down the hall to avoid the creaky boards that might awaken her. Slipping on his sneakers, he was just congratulating himself on his stealth when he heard her.

"Soul? Why is it so cold in here? Have you been messing with the thermostat?"

Her voice was thick with sleep and he could tell she wasn't fully awake. This gave him two options; Soul could wait for her to get up and tell her that her relaxing morning ritual was a no-go, or he could slip out the door like a yellow bellied coward. It was a known fact he was not a morning person. Sluggish and lazy, he felt that the day had no right to start before at least noon. What wasn't a known fact was that Maka wasn't a morning person either, at least not without a shower first. She could become...violent. More so than usual. He shuddered in remembrance. Slipping out the door won.

He took the backstreets in to work, gliding into his usual parking spot behind a convenient bush. Scanning all directions for anyone he might know, Soul jogged to the employee entrance and dove through the door. Another successful infiltration. Now it was time to go under cover. Deep, deep undercover. Grimacing with distaste as he pulled Big Bird's uglier, smellier cousin from its hook, he kicked off his shoes and tossed them into his locker. Suiting up, he wasn't sure if he was going to take vicious enjoyment from eating this year's turkey or avoid it altogether. Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself before walking into the main part of the door, thinking of the one thing that made this bearable; at least he didn't have to deal with children.

It hung, thick and gelatinous, the color of rancid lime jello. Soul watched in horror as one, chubby little hand rose to the bubble that jiggled and contracted with each breath. A finger with dirt caked under the nail wrapped the mucousy membrane around itself, pulling it away so beady little brown eyes could make a thorough inspection. A verdict was reached. Soul's wings flapped uselessly.

Don't do it.  
Don't do it.  
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEAS-

Too late. With a smack and a slurp, the foul substance was ingested, the little darling shooting him a gapped toothed smile as he backed away. The harried mother reached down and dragged the toddler away, completely unaware that she was holding the hand that had just performed its dig and dine routine. Soul shuffled down the aisle, his desire for an early lunch break now nothing but a fond memory. Thinking his day couldn't get any worse, he continued to make his circuit of the display of frozen avian corpses. Feeling a hand clamp down on his wrist, he let out an indelicate squawk of surprise. He turned, prepared to unleash his drumsticks of justice on whoever had decided to manhandle him. The sight of his boss froze his leg in mid-air, and he returned his three toed foot to the floor.

Mr. Simmons released his wrist to slap him on the back, speaking in that loud, overly hardy manner that he put on in front of the customers. "Well, TomTom! I'll bet you're awful tired of being cooped up in here, when you could be out in the nice, fresh air?"

Soul frantically shook his head, red gozzle flying back and forth across his wide, floppy beak.

"Of course you are! Just follow me, and we'll take care of that!" Mr, Simmons headed for the front doors as fast as his stumpy legs would take him and Soul followed dejectedly, giving the appearance of a turkey being led to the chopping block. An icy blast of air shot down his beak as the automatic doors hissed open, making his eyes sting and water. Next to the entrance, an area had been set up for him with square bales of hay and strategically arranged pumpkins. A large banner with the words, TURKEY IN THE STRAW! was hung across the back, but what had Soul ready to molt his feathers was the sign that said, PICTURES WITH TOMTOM THE TURKEY! ONLY SIX DOLLARS!

"Great, isn't it? Figured this'd bring in some extra cash and it's a pretty cushy job for you, too. Just stand there with the kiddies while the parents snap away, maybe throw in a few 'gobble gobbles' for good measure. We'll start you off with two or three hours today, then more if it looks like it's bringing folks in. Have fun, Evans!" he gave a jaunty wave and headed back into the nice, warm store, leaving Soul to glare at his back and pray that the display of canned cranberry sauce would come crashing down on his shiny bald head.

An hour and a half later found Soul ready to call and schedule a vasectomy. He had been hit, kicked and screamed at, and the lower half of his costume was matted with sticky substances, the nature of which he did not want to contemplate too closely. Another kick to his shins brought his attention down to the little bundle of joy that stood before him, the curly headed blond wearing a hardened expression worthy of someone three times her age.

"Hey mister! I wanna hear some turkey sounds! Hurry up and sound like a turkey!"

His response didn't come fast enough, earning him another kick. He traded glares with the malicious munchkin.

"Gobble fuckin' gobble, kid."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "You're the lamest turkey I've ever seen!"

Soul was saved from answering when a woman that looked like she was the girl's mother came up. "Alright, honey. I got a good picture of you with TomTom! Would you like to stay out here with him while mommy shops?"

"Whoa! Wait a minute! Lady, I'm just supposed to get my picture taken with them, not babysit!"

She waved a hand in dismissal. "You're being paid, and I won't be long."

He tried to block her path, desperation making an eyelid twitch. "There's not enough gold in Fort Knox to make it worth it, and I can tell you, I'm making no where near that."

The lady gave him a hard smile. "Look at it this way. After today, you'll never forget to wear a condom!"

She ducked around him with the swiftness that only a mother escaping her offspring for a few blissful moments could achieve. Soul turned back to the waiting line, a whimper rising in his throat at the gleam in the eyes of the watching parents.

An hour later, sweet, sweet release came in the form of his afternoon break. He hadn't had a chance to get lunch, but all he wanted to do was curl up into the fetal position in the breakroom for a few moments and sob. Making his way down the dairy aisle, he spotted a familiar face in the crowd. Black hair done up in a high ponytail, Tsubaki walked along with a basket over one arm, her eyes scanning the crowd. Soul spun around and hurried down the next aisle, his fear of being caught in such an uncool situation making him momentarily forget that no one could recognize him like this. Before he could totally regain his wits, he saw someone else, the one person he had been trying to hide from. Maka was almost right next to him, all she had to do was turn and she would see him. Without thinking, he wedged himself behind a display of pumpkin pie filling.

"Hey! I didn't expect to see you here!"

Soul nearly panicked at the sound of Maka's voice before realizing she was talking to Tsubaki, who had come up the aisle behind him.

"Maka-chan! What are you doing here? I thought you went to that store that's only a couple of blocks from your place?"

Maka shrugged, her pale blue coat bunching with the movement as she shifted her basket to her other hand. "Yeah, that's what I usually do. But I'm going to be doing a lot of cooking the day after our dinner and I needed to pick up a few things for that. I tried the other store, but they had a small fire there last night, so they weren't open today."

"You say you're going to be doing a lot of cooking? What's the occasion?"

"I promised Soul that if he endured whatever Black*Star is going to inflict on us for Thanksgiving dinner, that we could spend the next day pigging out, watching movies and playing board games."

Tsubaki grinned knowingly. "I see. That sounds very...cozy. Are those oysters in your basket? What are you planning on doing, doping him up with aphrodisiacs before you confess?"

"Tsubakiiiiiiii, don't joke around like that!" wailed Maka, turning a seasonal cranberry red.

The turkey behind the display blinked in confusion. Why was Maka blushing so badly?

Enlightenment was prevented by the arrival of a bright blue blur whizzing down the aisle, standing on the front of a shopping cart and pushing it along like a scooter. Black*Star brought the cart to a halt next to the girls, the end of it kissing the display and causing it to jiggle.

"Yo Maka! 'Sup? Tsubaki, I think I got everything on my list. You ready to go?"

"Yes, I was just looking for you when I ran into Maka-chan. She was telling me about her interesting plans for-"

"So, Black*Star!" Maka cut in. "Are you really going to cook dinner all by yourself?"

"You know it! Be prepared for the food of the gods!"

Maka cocked an eyebrow sardonically. "Does that mean you admit you're going to be serving burnt offerings?"

"Hey, I passed Home Ec just like the rest of you!"

"That was a mercy pass. The thought of having you repeat her class had Mrs. Henderson hitting her 'special' thermos hard."

"Cute, Maka, very cute." snorted Black*Star with a role of his eyes. "C'mon, Tsubaki, let's leave Paula Deen here and head on out. "Don't wanna keep you out too long, you might catch another cold."

"Yes, we should get home soon. Mother and Father said they would be calling sometime today to let us know that they arrived in Japan safely. Goodbye Maka-chan! Good luck with your special dinner!"

Maka was left to splutter as her friend practically skipped off for the register, Black*Star tugging at the cart to get it turned around. He seemed to remember something as he was walking away, and turned to face her with a serious expression.

"Maka, you may want to go ahead and check out too. I saw Jennifer Walters in here earlier and she may still be around."

Maka's shoulders slumped, and she mumbled low enough that it was hard to hear her over the crowd and piped in easy listening music. "Thanks for the heads up, 'Star. I just have to grab one or two more things here and then I can leave."

Her childhood friend watched her closely for a moment, seeming to struggle with something before settling on a nod and a wave before leaving to catch up with Tsubaki.

Soul was almost able to relax. Two down, and one to go, and then he could come out of hiding.

"Maka Albarn, is that you?"

Soul's eyes bugged out when he found the source of the squeal. Had they scheduled a damn high school reunion in the store and just not told him? He watched as a short girl with curly brown hair piled on her head bounced up to Maka, wearing a puffy red jacket, black short-shorts, and matching furry black boots.

"Jennifer! How nice to see you!" Maka exclaimed with a smile falser than Pamela Anderson's breasts. Her whole body stiffened up when the other girl put her arm around her shoulders.

"We never seem to see each other around on campus! Sooo, tell me how things are going with you. Are you still on the lacrosse team? And have you moved out of that scary neighborhood?"

Maka slid out from under her arm as politely as possible. "Yes, I'm still on the team and Soul and I are in the same apartment we've been in since we graduated high school. How are things with you?"

Jennifer's face fell. "Ah. Yeah, I've been meaning to ask you...don't you think it's about time you moved out on your own? I'm sure Soul could use the space. You too, of course."

Maka's face went blank as she struggled to keep from saying something she would regret.

"I think we're both fine with the way things are. Soul would tell me if he wanted to move out."

The brunette shook her head, her curls swaying all over the place. "Soul would never say anything, he's too nice a guy for that. That's why I think you should let go now. I mean, I know you've been in love with him forever, but you're not really his type, so-"

"How did you know I was in love with Soul? And who's to say what type of girl he likes?"

The other girl shook her head again, starting to remind Maka of one of those dog bobble-heads you see in the backs of cars. "Oh, it was always totally obvious to everyone! And as for his type...well, It's not you he took to prom, was it?"

Maka flinched at that low blow. "He didn't actually take you, it's not like it was a real date-"

"Maybe, maybe not. But it's more of a date than he's ever gone on with you. Face it, Soul would never say this, but you're holding him back. Why don't you just move on and let him find a girl who fits him better?"

Her fists clenching around the basket handles as her knuckles turned white, Maka spoke through gritted teeth. "I know that someday Soul is going to find a girl that he wants to be with. I also know that I don't fit the cool image that he's going for and that he has no intention of settling for me. But until he makes that decision, I'm going to stay with him and enjoy whatever time I have left with him."

There was a tense silence, finally broken by the other girl. "Alright. I suppose I can understand that. And don't worry, I'm not the type of girl who gets jealous of her boyfriend having female friends, especially when they're not any threat to me. Well, I have to be going now, hope to see you around. Maybe we can do lunch sometime!"

Maka stared after her, then turned back to the shelves. She grabbed a couple of cans and stuck them in her basket, then stomped off to pay for her items.

The turkey emerged from its hiding spot, staggering blindly to the back room. Grabbing a bottle of water from the mini fridge, he dropped into a folding chair and removed his head, tossing it onto the card table. Taking a gulp of water to ease his dry throat, he tried to make sense of the thoughts whirling through his head. His world had just been rocked. Unless he had taken a shortcut through the Twilight Zone on his way back here, he had just heard Maka admit to being in love with him. For years. How had he not seen this? Was he really that blind, that stupid? He thought that his role of poultry was a recent thing, but apparently he'd been walking around like a giant turkey for years and just hadn't realized it! What was all that nonsense about her not being cool enough for him? He could count on two hands with room to spare the people whose opinions he gave a damn about. She didn't seem to understand that his idea of cool wasn't the mainstream one; it was his own particular brand, and she more than fit it. He faced-winged thinking about the whole stupid prom thing. That was confusing to even him, and he had been there, although it did finally make sense of one part of the evening.

He had planned on asking Maka to go. All set to ask her in a way that could be taken to mean either as a date or just a friend, he had come up behind her at lunch ready to pop the question. Only to hear Maka telling the rest of her friends that she thought prom was a stupid idea and didn't really see the point of going. His dreams of surprising her with a nice corsage and a night of dancing and cheesy prom pics going up in smoke, he had wandered off to get some lunch to pretend to eat. Not really paying attention to his surroundings, Soul had bumped into Jennifer. She had babbled on and on about something, asking him if she would see him at prom. With a muttered, 'yeah, whatever', he had escaped into the lunch line, not giving her words a second thought.

Prom night had rolled around and he had crawled into his suit, not really wanting to go, but not wanting to explain why he would rather stay home and sulk even less. The girls had convinced Maka to at least show up for a little bit of prom, so maybe he could convince her to hang around so the night wasn't a total waste. He had left the house quietly, so as not to disturb his grandmother who had thought he was crazy for not taking Maka. Sometimes he wasn't sure who wanted him to get with Maka more; him or Nana.

The theme had been something tropical, and after hanging around with his friends for a while, he had leaned next to a fake palm while the others danced. Girls had asked him, but he wasn't interested in dancing with anyone who wasn't Maka. He scanned the crowd for her, but she still hadn't shown up. She was probably still prying a sobbing Spirit off of her, who was most likely fawning over how pretty she looked in her dress. Soul snickered at the thought. No matter how nicely she was dressed, he knew that she was still armed, a fact her father would find out as well. He hadn't noticed that Jennifer had come up and began chatting with him until she started to lean into his personal space. Since he was pressed to the wall with no other option, he had been forced to put his hands on her shoulders and push her back a little. He did so with a forced smile to take the sting out of the action, and as he did so, he saw Maka across the room, in a shimmery green strapless prom dress that showed off her gentle curves. A group of people walked in front of him and he lost sight of her. He had worked his way across the room, but by then she was gone. His friends, when questioned, said they hadn't seen her at all.

The next day, when they had all gotten together for ice cream, she had laughingly said that she had agreed to come, but she had never said how long she would stay. The conversation had then turned to Soul, when Liz brought up the fact that Jennifer was going around hinting that last night had been a date, with steamy goings-on after the prom. Soul had been pissed at first, but then he realized that she was one of those people that needed to do things like that to boost her self esteem. She wasn't really very well liked, and if he called her out on her lie, she would look even more ridiculous and pathetic. And it's not like he cared what other people at school thought, especially since there was only about a month until it was over. So he had just explained to everyone at his table that he had never asked Jennifer out, that he had just seen her there and she was exaggerating the whole thing. Since everyone but Maka knew who he was really interested in, the subject had been quickly dropped.

Now Soul was face-winging again. It was now obvious that Maka, while believing what he had said, still thought there might be more to it. He groaned, knowing he was going to have to find a way to clear this up. Glancing at the clock, he saw that his shift was almost over. Mr. Simmons could kiss his Butterball; he was leaving early today.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

The temperature had dropped since this morning, the smell of autumn hanging heavy as the air whipped around his body in bone-chilling waves. Physical discomfort was the furthest thing from his mind at the moment. So was the fact that he might get fired for walking out early. He was too busy coming up with plans to broach this afternoon's discovery with Maka. He couldn't tell her outright that he had overheard her. That would only embarrass her and an embarrassed Maka was a defensive Maka, one that wouldn't listen. An abrupt confession was also out. What was he supposed to say, 'Hey Maka! I've been in love with you for six years! Wanna catch a movie or somethin?'.

His eyes narrowed as their apartment came into view. The whole thing about his supposed coolness and her lack thereof was not setting well with him, either. Just telling her that it was a stupid thing to think wouldn't be enough. Once Maka got an idea into her head, dynamite wouldn't blast it out. He loved the girl, but she was stubborn in capital letters.

Another thought struck him, causing him to trip on the stairs. If he hadn't put such an emphasis on being cool, could he have gotten the girl sooner? Maybe they could be like Black*star and Tsubaki, already engaged and set to get married as soon as they graduated from college. People had thought those two had been moving pretty fast since middle school, and had cautioned them about rushing into things before they had experienced other relationships. They had taken a break in senior year to try dating other people, but had both been so completely miserable that it had lasted less than a month.

Finally, when it was apparent that Black*Star was more out of control without her influence and that Tsubaki wasn't as outgoing without him to make sure that she became involved, both of their families agreed that they complemented each other's personalities. They, like Soul and Maka, had moved in together after high school, and Black*Star had proposed about a month ago. Soul had been happy and excited for his friends, but a small, jealous part of him wished that it could have been him and Maka.

He was going to have to think about his approach very carefully. It was painfully clear that now that he knew she shared his feelings, he wouldn't be able to keep letting this slide. The best thing to do was feel her out, devising a plan that would prove to her he didn't give a damn about coolness if it meant he could be with her, then springing it on her in, ironically enough, a cool manner. Blushing and stuttering over a box of candy and some flowers was not going to cut it. It was far, far too late for that. He needed a balls to the wall, go big or go home type of action that would leave no doubts in her mind. He walked into the apartment, jiggling the door closed as he absentmindedly wondered if he could fit fireworks in there somewhere...

Furious shuffling noises were coming from Maka's room. Following the sounds, he discovered her pacing back and forth, shoving what looked to be the entire contents of her closet into a suitcase.

"Wow, Maka. Thought you were just gonna spend a few hours with your dad, didn't realize you were runnin' away from home."

Maka dropped her fuzzy bunny slippers in surprise, so engrossed in her packing that she hadn't heard him come in. He scooped them off the floor and belly flopped onto her bed, the springs creaking ominously.

"Hey, Soul. I still plan on staying at my dad's for as short a time as possible, but Liz called a few minutes ago. Patty's not feeling well and Liz wanted to know if I could stay over and watch her for a couple of days while Liz is in class. I'm going straight over there as soon as I'm done with Papa, so you're on your own for supper tonight. I bought some stuff today, but it's for later, so don't eat any of it."

Soul played with the slippers, miming a humping action with the innocent pink rabbits. "How do I know what I can eat and what I can't?" he whined, sounding like a six year old.

She snatched her abused footwear away and stuffed them into her suitcase. "That's simple. If it looks good, don't eat it."

"Great, so while you're chowin' down on high quality grub at Kid's place, I'm stuck with instant crap or takeout?"

Maka jammed in a few more sweaters and Soul raised a brow. Why was it women packed for a few days like the were going on an expedition to Everest?

She gave him a cruel grin. "Good food and heat, too. By the way, why didn't you warn me this morning that ours had gone out? I called for you, but you left without answering."

He sat up. "I thought I was quiet. How did you know I was still there?"

"Because you just told me, you jerk!" she growled playfully, throwing a pair of thick socks in his face, causing him to sprawl backwards more in surprise than at the force of impact.

Sitting up once again, he couldn't help going fishing for info. "So, besides class and being called in to play Florence Nightingale, did anything happen today?" he asked casually.

Maka paused in the middle of cramming in several pairs of jeans to answer. "Nothing much. I went over your paper and corrected a few spelling and grammar mistakes, and I went to the store. That's about it. Oh, I ran into Black*Star and Tsubaki. From the look of the contents of his cart, I think now would be a good time to buy stock in antacids."

He waited to see if she would say anything else, but curiosity was killing him, so he finally prompted, "Sounds about right. Run into anyone else while you were out?"

Her face creased into a frown at the thought, her movements becoming sharper and more vicious. "Actually, I did. Jennifer Walters, remember her? Or you might still see her on campus. I haven't, since she's not in any of my classes. She was asking about you."

"I've seen her around, but I try my best to avoid her. She was always kind of a pain, but it was worse after that whole shitty prom thing she dreamed up. It was bad enough she went around tellin' people I asked her out, but sayin' that we did...stuff later made me wanna puke."

"Oh? You didn't look like you minded her too much at prom." she said with a brittle cheerfulness.

Careful, Soul. Tread gently, for here there be monsters. "I was doing my best to be polite. C'mon, Maka. I never even dated her. Do you really think I'd go out and have a one night stand with her?"

There was a heavy silence before she answered. "I guess that's true. I never really thought you did, with her or any other of the girls that claimed you had."

Soul jerked upright in shock. "What, are you sayin' there're girls going around telling people I slept with them? What the hell!"

Maka rolled her eyes at his naïveté. "Come on, Soul. You know there are guys who brag about scoring with hot girls, even though everyone knows that the only action they get is from their own hand. Do you really think girls are any different?"

"I guess, but why me? I've never given them any reason to think I'm interested."

Maka closed her suitcase, leaning on it in a futile attempt to get it closed. "Yeah, but that's part of the charm. The cool, aloof hot guy, finally succumbing to their advances. It didn't help that you never called Jennifer out for lying. Now they think they can say whatever they want and get away with it."

"I was trying to be nice about it, damn it! Everyone thought she was a loser, so I figured if she needed to lie like that to feel good about herself, then fine. As long as you guys knew it wasn't true, I didn't give a shit what everyone else thought. Who knew it would come back to bite me? And why did you never bring it up if you thought I was with other girls?"

"I never could believe it. Like you said, you'd never dated, and you're not the hit it and quit it type." She eyed her worthy opponent, aka the suitcase, then hopped on top of it, trying to force it closed with her weight. "Also, the fact that when one girl said she was with you, I knew it would be impossible. It was that weekend when we did the forty-eight hour video game marathon at 'Star's house, remember?"

Soul groaned. "Oh gods, that was one of the worst ideas ever. At least the part where we did it right before we had school on Monday instead of waitin' till summer. So besides Jennifer, how many other chicks have I supposedly been with?"

"Only three or four, so don't let it go to your head. I don't know why you're surprised. A lot of girls want a piece of you. What really amazes me is that none of them has gotten any, unless there's something you're not telling me!" she teased, bouncing as she wiggled the zipper.

"I'll have you know I'm factory fresh! Mint condition, never been out of the box! My virtue remains intact, and-hey, move over, you're never gonna get it closed like that."

He took her place and she was finally able to get the zipper fully closed.

"Thanks. I think I'm all packed, so now I can..." her eyes drifted to her alarm clock. "Holy crap, I'm late!" she grabbed the handle of the overstuffed suitcase, knocking him aside in her hurry. He followed her mad rush to the door, handing Maka her coat.

"Slow down, your dad can wait a few extra minutes. Be careful, and don't drive too fast; there are nuts out on the highway. And is your phone charged?"

Maka shrugged into the coat he held out for her. "I won't drive fast, I'll wear my seatbelt and yes, my phone is charged. Is that all, Mama Hen, or can I go now?"

He surprised her by pulling her into a tight hug. After the initial shock wore off, she returned it, giggling when he murmured into her ear, "I just want you to be careful. It's gettin' close to Christmas, and if anything happened to you, I'd miss out on a present."

"You big softy. Just for that, I should buy you a trance fusion CD instead of what I had planned. You can let go now. I'm only going to be gone a few days, but you're acting like I'm leaving for space."

He pulled back to look at her, grinning crookedly. "I know, but I'll still miss you. It always sucks around here when you're gone."

"Really? And here I thought it would be more fun without me to keep my eye on you."

His eyes darkened, and his voice took on a husky quality. "Life's always better when you're around, Maka. You should know that by now."

Her cheeks darkened, and they were having what could only be called a moment when there was a crash from downstairs as the neighbors began fighting, effectively breaking the mood. Maka turned quickly, picking up her suitcase and opening the door.

"Gotta go now. I'll try to call you while I'm gone. Bye!"

"Bye. Call me once you make it in for the night."

The door clicked shut behind her, and Soul glared down at the noise that was coming from the floorboards. Maka was going to be gone three or four days; that left him with enough time to come up with a plan. He went to his room to put on his headphones, filled with determination. As long as he didn't screw up, Maka would finally get a confession by Thanksgiving.

A sharp pain in his neck awoke him the next morning. He had fallen asleep sitting up and had developed a crick. Wincing, he slid his headphones off and set them on his bedside table, mentally cursing the couple that lived below him. Their fight had gone into extra rounds, and he had fled to the sanctuary of his music collection to escape them. He had briefly considered stomping on the floor to signal them to quiet down, but the very real possibility of them joining forces and turning on him prevented him from doing so.

It had been so bad that he had missed Maka's phone call, and only the fact that he felt his phone vibrate when she texted him let him know she arrived safely. Her father had been too busy with packing for his trip to do anything to get on her nerves, so the visit had actually gone much better than she had feared. Afterwards, she had settled into a spare room at Kid's place, and had decided to go to bed early so she could sit with Patty in the morning when Liz left.

Soul hadn't bothered to tell her about the neighbors, knowing she would just worry. He had sat up listening to his music and trying to think of a plan, but he couldn't focus enough to come up with anything good. The ideas just became more and more bizarre, and if he remembered correctly, at the end he had even considered the possibility of having a gussied up goat ask her in his stead. He blamed that one on a lack of food, since he hadn't had anything to eat all day except a stale sandwich that the deli at the store had put in the breakroom.

Stomach growling, he heaved himself from the bed, checking the time on his phone. Class started in about forty-five minutes, so he needed to get a move on. Replacing his sweatshirt with a navy blue hoodie, he went to the bathroom to splash some cold water on his face and run a comb through his hair, adding a thin black headband to complete the look. He ran back into his room in a mild panic until he saw that Maka had already printed out his paper for him, corrected and ready to be turned in. Stuffing it into his backpack, he headed for the kitchen to get something to eat. Since Maka wasn't there, he was able to indulge in his bad habit of drinking straight from the milk carton as he scanned the fridge and cabinets for something that wasn't off limits to eat. Finding nothing that wouldn't take more time than he had to fix, he settled on one of Maka's energy bars, grimacing at the grainy texture and cardboard flavor. Swallowing another mouthful of milk to wash it down, he stuck the carton back into the fridge and left the apartment, careful to lock the door behind him.

An hour later saw him cruising down the street to work, a pleased grin on his face. Mr. Stevens had accepted the papers from the class and then, since it was the last class before break, dismissed them early. Soul decided to go straight to work, to see if coming in before his shift would get him off the hook for leaving yesterday. He had done his usual Mission Impossible routine to get in undetected and had been halfway suited up before his boss had come in. Bracing himself for the inevitable chewing out and possible firing, he was surprised to find that Mr. Simmons was almost...gleeful? Oh, this did not bode well.

"Evans my boy! Glad to see you came in early! You've got a fine work ethic there. I've always thought of you as one of my best employees!" he gushed, pounding Soul on the back.

Soul eyed him warily, discreetly shuffling away a few steps. This unaccustomed niceness was freaking him out. He could count on one feathered hand the number of times his boss had spoken kindly to him and the results had never been in his favor. And now he was practically glowing, forcing Soul to come to the conclusion that his turkey was as good as stuffed.

"I just got some exciting news and it affects you too! Care to take a guess?"

Soul shook his head dumbly, feeling the invisible noose tighten around his neck.

"Channel 5 called, and they want to do a spot on the store the night before Thanksgiving! Just think of all the last minute customers that'll bring in! And the best part is that they want to get some good shots of you out front with the hay bales. They say watching you interact with the kids will make a great human interest story. So be ready to suit up by six on Wednesday night, since we're gonna be live on the seven o'clock news!" he bounced off, leaving Soul to sag against the wall in dismay. After all the trouble he'd gone through to avoid any kind of notice on this job, and now he was going to be plastered all over the evening news? This was just about the most uncoo-

A wide, evil grin split his face, sharp teeth glinting under the dingy fluorescent light. The idea was sheer brilliance. Everyone would come out a winner. Maka would get her confession, the news station would get a better human interest story than they had bargained for, and he would have the sweet satisfaction of taking the attention away from Mr. Simmons and his grubby little store and putting it on the girl he loved.

Securing his turkey head on jauntily as he went over the details in his mind, he skipped out through the store, gobbling merrily at anyone who was in his path.

Wednesday found Soul in a jumble of mixed emotions, his nervous system stretched beyond the capacity any mere mortal could bear. He hadn't been able to sleep the night before with the endless scenarios playing on a constant loop in his head, outcomes ranging from strongly plausible to badly written AU. Even the knowledge that she felt the same way did nothing to cease his misgivings, for he knew that just because a person had certain feelings did not necessarily mean they wanted to act on them. He believed she would say yes, but he would not take that for granted. The plan was marvelously simple, and as he went over it for what had to be in the triple digits time that day, he could find very little room for error. In fact, it was almost too simple, giving him nothing to do to prepare while he waited for Maka to come home.

Speaking of which, it was a little after five, and she had said she would be home by then. He paced around the living room, his eyelids flickering to the beat of the ticking clock. A howl of frustration was building up in his throat, when he heard the front door creak open and Maka stepped in with her suitcase in hand and her face flushed from the cold.

Springing to the door, Soul wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into a bear hug as he swung her in circles, causing the suitcase to clatter to the floor. Maka squealed in surprise, pounding on his arms to be let down.

"Soul, what the hell is wrong with you! You're acting like Black*Star, you big goof!" she laughed breathlessly, wondering what he could possibly be so excited about.

"What, I'm not allowed to miss you? When I said it sucked whenever you're gone, I wasn't kiddin." he said, setting her back down.

Not giving her a chance to regain her breath, he grabbed her by the wrist with one had to drag her along, scooping up her luggage with the other.

"Gah! Where's the fire? The only time I've ever seen you with this much energy was when-Soul! You better not have been living off of coffee and Pixi Stix again, or I swear, I'll-"

Soul dumped her suitcase on top of her bed, and then began to help her out of her coat. "No, mother. I've been eating an ethnically, if not nutritionally, balanced diet of pizza, Chinese, and Mexican food. If you want to eat any of that in the next six days, I warn you now, I WILL cry."

Maka nodded with mock gravity as she undid her scarf, draping it along with her coat over her desk chair. "Got it. No crab rangoon for our dinner on Friday."

"Whoa now, woman, let's not be hasty! Exceptions can be made!"

She stretched her arms up over her head, her breasts pushing forward just enough to divert Soul's attention from his mission at hand. Wait, what did she just say?

"Say wha?"

"I said, It's good to be back home, and that I missed you too. Since we have to get up early, I think I'm going to have a bowl of cereal and go to bed. Patty was feeling better, and she and Liz kept me up way too late last night. You should try to get some sleep too. I don't want to have to physically drag you out of bed in the morning."

Soul swiftly switched focus from her tits to his crumbling plans. "NO!" he shouted, causing her to jump and stare at him as if she thought he may have been alone longer than his fragile little brain could handle.

"What I mean is, you can't go to sleep yet. I need you to stay up and watch the news while I'm gone, okay?"

Maka gestured to the laptop that was sitting on her desk. "Can't I just look whatever it is up on the net?"

He sighed in mounting frustration. His plan hadn't taken into consideration that getting Maka to do one thing when she wanted to do another was like trying to herd cats through a corn maze.

"That won't work. What I want you to see is gonna be live on the local news. Could you do me this one favor? Pleeeeaase?"

She peered at him suspiciously. "Soul, you're all jittery and hyper, your eyes are dilated and you're rambling about the news. If I discount the possibility that you've become a drug addict in the last three days, that leaves me with the only option of you being up to something. What's going on?"

"All I'm asking is that you watch the damn news and you're makin' a federal case out of it! Is it really that hard for you to do?"

"I think you're forgetting that the last time someone wanted me to watch the news , it involved a naked Black*Star, a Renaissance fair, and two dozen ferrets. Can you blame me for being nervous?"

Soul deflated. He had forgotten about that. It had taken a lot of time and effort, but he had managed, and he wasn't too thrilled that she had decided to bring it up.

"Okay, I can understand your reservations when you put it like that. Would it make you feel any better if I told you Black*Star wasn't involved at all?"

"Sadly, it does. I'm still worried, though. I don't think I've ever seen you get so worked up over something before. You're usually so laid back, and the fact that you won't tell me what's going on isn't helping any."

Placing his hands on her shoulders, he tried to calm down so he would stop freaking her out. "Hey, you trust me, don't you?"

That seemed to make it worse. "Dear lord, Soul! Acting all secretive and then pulling the 'do you trust me' card? Are you trying to give me a heart attack? Nothing good ever comes after asking that question!"

"Maka, I promise, nothing bad is gonna happen. Do I have to beg?"

She searched his eyes questioningly, trying to discern what was behind this odd mix of seriousness and excitement. Her shoulders slumped in resignation.

"This is really important to you, isn't it?" she asked softly.

The weight of what he was going to do hit him, and he licked his lips nervously, his voice becoming raspy with strain. "Yeah...yeah, this is probably the most important thing I've ever done."

Maka gave him a small smile, pushing her misgivings to the back of her mind. "Sounds like it should be pretty cool, then."

His fingers twitched up to play with one of her pigtails. "I sure as hell hope so...but if you don't like it, just...go to bed before I get home, and I'll understand."

Watching his mood drop, Maka felt somehow guilty, as if she had killed the elation he had been experiencing before. "I'm sure whatever it is will be great, and I promise I'll watch. Happy now?"

"You promise? It's on channel five, and it starts at seven. I'm not sure what part it'll be on, but you'll know it when you see it."

"Okay, fine! Channel five, seven o'clock, I got it! I'll be watching!"

"I mean it, don't look away for any reason once it starts. No changing the channel, or leaving the room. Now swear, or else I'll...I'll do something incredibly masculine and ill-advised!"

Maka snickered at his melodramatic threat. "Somehow, I get the feeling that that's what you're doing tonight. But I promise, I promise! I won't take my eyes off the tv. I won't even take a book into the living room with me. Let me put on my pajamas and get my cereal, and I'll head for the couch right now. There's only a little more than an hour to wait, anyway."

"Sounds good. You go ahead and do that, and-wait, is it that late already? Shit! Gotta run, Maka, bye! Don't forget the channel and the time!"

He dashed to the door, Maka right behind him. "Soul, be careful! Don't forget those nuts you told me about on the highway!"

Pausing halfway out the door, he grinned sharkishly. "How could I forget? I'm one of 'em!"

Listening to the sound of his footsteps rapidly fade away down the hall, Maka let out a puff of air, blowing up her bangs. She headed off to change like she had promised Soul, her eyes flitting to the tv as she passed. Tonight promised to be...interesting. She just hoped to hell that it didn't involve bail money.

Since the heat was actually working, Maka settled on a red and green plaid pair of fuzzy sleep pants and a forest green henley. Rooting through her suitcase, she emerged with her bunny slippers, sliding them on her feet and then padding to the kitchen for a bowl of rice crispies. She was still perplexed as to what Soul could be up to. You would think after knowing him for so many years that she would be able to figure him out, but Soul was still full of surprises.

She scowled at the nearly empty container of milk. Then again, some things never changed. At least he had left enough this time for a small bowl, instead of putting it back completely empty. As her cereal began to crackle at the contact of the milk, Maka smiled fondly. It was hard to believe the sullen, slightly bitter boy she had first met was the same person that had ran out of here in such high spirits today. Her first sight of him, in that yellow and black track jacket and the strange headband with the patch and pin on it had set her teeth on edge. The fresh trouble with her parents had soured her views on men, and she thought she recognized his type. But while talking with him, she had seen flickers of something deeper in his eyes, something that seemed to resonate with her. He had been trying so hard to come off as cool and aloof, but when he had said what he did about Black*Star and not holding his family against him, she had been able to catch a glimpse of the kind boy hidden below the surface.

The more she hung around him at school, the more at ease with him she became, until she fell naturally into the habit of going to his house most days after school. She had been surprised to find that he lived alone with his grandmother, but after he had explained his situation in a few brief, terse sentences, she felt like she could understand why he had chosen to move here. And his affection for the older woman was obvious, in the way he could go from teasing her one minute to doing something for her without being asked in the next. Their interactions had fascinated Maka since she rarely saw Soul so emotionally open. As time passed, he became a happier person around his friends, although he was naturally sarcastic and a bit gruff. She had always gotten the impression that he felt closest to her out of their group and she appreciated the trust he placed in her when he talked to her about his problems and general thoughts on life.

XXX  
The trouble started in eighth grade during science class. They had been told to choose partners for a project and it seemed like the whole female population of the room had made a beeline for Soul. Jealousy had struck her in the stomach hard and fast, and it was with horror that she had realized that it wasn't because she wanted to be his lab partner, but because she didn't want any other girl that close to Soul. Which was stupid. He was just a friend. A good friend. One that she saw every day, whether they had school or not. Who she felt safe enough to trust her problems with. Whose presence alone made her happy, especially when he smiled that pointy toothed smile that made her breath hitch and her knees go loose and no no no oh shit no she was in love!

She had been snapped out of her revelation by Soul, who had joined her at her table and was waving his hand in front of her eyes with concern. She had asked him why he had chosen her instead of one of the other girls, mentally slapping herself as the words left her mouth. He had looked at her like she was crazy, and asked why he would partner up with them instead of his best friend. His answer elated and crushed her at the same time. She hadn't been expecting him to go down on his knees and confess his undying love for her, but Maka knew that being slapped with the best friend label doomed you to advancing no farther than a certain point, love-wise. It was the unenviable position of being intimately close while having everything you wanted just a fingernail's breadth out of reach.

Those odds were bad enough, though she had seen a few overcome them. She might even have tried for something more, but there was another factor to deal with. Soul had a preoccupation with things being cool. If it wasn't cool, then he didn't want it, and Maka knew she was as far from the definition of the word as it was possible to be. As she watched him out of the corner of her eye, she wondered if she would ever get the guts to tell him how she felt. Because even if he was hung up on coolness, he wasn't a shallow jerk, and that knowledge kept a small spark of hope alive. She decided to wait and see if maybe, with enough time, he would come around. Until then, she would concentrate on being the best friend she could possibly be, because he was too important for her to do anything less, regardless of whether or not he chose her or some other girl.

But he never did. Maka waited and waited for him to show some kind of interest in anyone, but he remained single. For one brief, horrifying moment she had wondered if he was gay, because that would kill any chance she might have without some really, really expensive surgery. Then she had remembered the colossal nosebleed he had gotten when some girl had had a wardrobe malfunction and her mind was put at ease. He was interested in females, so she didn't need to change her name to Manka just yet.

His permanent lack of a love life, coupled with her desire to settle things once and for all, had finally spurred her to admit her feelings. Senior prom was coming up and if she was going to put her heart on the line, she might as well do it while she was feeling confident and sexy in a dress she had picked out for the occasion. A small, girlish part of her had hoped he would ask her to prom, and she had waited for any hint that he was thinking along those lines. It had gotten down to three days before prom, and the only thing she had managed to get out of him was the fact that he was going. Because, of course, it wouldn't be cool to miss it. Oh, how she wanted to purge that word from the English language! She had been so frustrated that she had groused to her friends at lunch that prom was stupid and she probably wouldn't even go. They had been sympathetic, understanding her depression, knowing that Soul was at its source.

Somehow, they were all aware of her feelings without having been told. It was like she was walking around wearing a flashing neon sign that anyone could read. Anyone except Soul. The night of the party came and she got ready with great care. She donned the dress that the sales lady said showed off her slim build to its best advantage, and placed her usually pigtailed hair into a smooth updo. Makeup was kept to a minimum; a coat of coral lipgloss and a touch of eyeshadow. And a few breath mints popped into her purse. Just, you know, in case. All this primping was more for her benefit than Soul's. He wasn't the kind of person to be swayed by looks alone, or he would have dated one of the girls that had asked him out long before now. But Maka wanted that little boost of confidence that came with looking your best, and she had never needed it more than she had that night.

XXX  
It had taken her longer than she had anticipated to beat her simpering father off of her and she had been late. Maka crunched down on her cereal viciously as she remembered what had happened when she got there.  
XXX

She had felt the music before she entered the building, the bass pulsing through the ground. The sheer volume nearly blasted her back when she had opened the door to the auditorium, but the couples on the dancefloor seemed unaffected. Her nerves became more strained as she searched for Soul. Honestly, he was the only guy in the entire school who had white hair! Why the hell was it so difficult to find him? A flash of white from the far side of the room caught her eye. Finally! She smiled and began to cross the room.

Then froze.

The smile dropped from her face.

The noise from the music became inaudible.

The colors of the pretty dresses and decorations bled to gray.

All of her senses were focused on

one

single

thing.

Soul was smiling down at a girl, his hands on her shoulders. Maka felt her heart drop into her churning stomach. She knew Soul didn't feel comfortable touching many people, and the fact that he was doing so now made it heartbreakingly clear that what she had been planning on telling him tonight had been useless. At least she wouldn't have to face the embarrassment of rejection. Now she could focus on being happy that he had found someone, while pretending that he hadn't ripped out her heart and done a sombrero dance on it. She would do that right after she went home and ate a gallon of Chunky Monkey and watched a full season of Friends.

Her eyes adjusted to the shadows and she recognized the girl Soul was standing with. Oh, HELLS NO! It was bad enough that her hopes were shot, but she thought he had least had taste! But no, out of all the girls he could have chosen, it was Jennifer Walters. Her tits were pushed up unnaturally high and threatening to spill out of her tight red dress. Jennifer was one of those loud, obnoxious girls who always tried to force themselves into the center of attention. Maka couldn't understand it; Soul hated drama, yet here he was with the queen drama llama herself! Fearing that she would do or say something she would regret, she spun on one black high heel and left the building.

XXX

Maka put her bowl in the sink to wash later and made her way to the couch, pulling the thick striped blanket of of the back and snuggling into the corner. She had been so relieved when Soul had explained the next day, but she had lost her nerve to confess and had never quite regained it. After they had graduated, he had brought up the subject of becoming roommates while they were in college to save money and she had jumped at the chance. She was closer to him than ever before, but sometimes she wondered if that was a good thing. It was a difficult situation, because living as they did almost gave the feel of being a couple, even when she knew that wasn't the case. There was also the very real possibility he would find a girl he wanted to be serious about, and she knew if that happened she would have to move out. She loved him enough to be happy for him, but it would be asking far too much for her to stay there and watch.

She clicked the tv on, the reception fuzzy for a few minutes before clearing up. Tuning it to Channel 5, she saw that she had made it just in time to catch the opening notes of the station's music. Her heart sped up as she tried not to think about what Soul could possibly be up to. Maybe if she focused on a soothing mantra.

Black*Star was not involved.  
Black*Star was not involved.  
Blaaaaack*Staaaaar was nooooot invoooooolved.

That helped some, but she knew that Soul had the potential to come up with a scheme that rivalled any of Black*Star's. And he would probably be better at pulling it off. Face paling at that last thought, she forced her attention on the announcer's words, trying to guess which story he mentioned was coming up could be related to Soul. The high school debate team winning nationals? Nope. A robbery of a liquor store across town? Nope again. Man wins world record for eating the most live fish? Disturbingly possible. Mother gives birth to quintuplets on bus? No, he would have been more emotionally scarred than that. She snickered, remembering the green look of horror on his face when they had watched that birthing video in tenth grade.

The station broke for commercials, leaving her as clueless as when it first started. Fidgeting, she hoped it wasn't near the end off the broadcast. Maka didn't think she could wait that long. The weather was next and she sat through the mind numbingly boring segment with her fingers plucking at lint balls on the blanket. After the weather they went to a live broadcast at the grocery store she had gone to yesterday. She watched as a group of small children mobbed someone dressed up in a ridiculous turkey suit. Poor bastard. And Soul thought his job was bad! She would have to remember to tell him about this when he got home.

The reporter with the slicked back black hair flashed a wide, tooth-whitened smile into the camera as he stood in front of the store.

"Good evening! This is Chuck Rodgers coming to you live from Simmon's Fine Foods, where behind me, you see TomTom the turkey spending the last few hours before Thanksgiving having his picture taken with the children of customers."

He gestured beside him to a short, sweating fat man with a poor attempt at a comb-over on his shiny scalp and a cigar dangling from the corner of his mouth.

"Joining me here is Eugene Simmons, owner and manager of the store. Tell me, where did you get the idea for TomTom the turkey?"

Behind them, the group of children had somehow gotten the poor bird onto the ground and surrounded him, feathers flying into the air to the accompaniment of joyful shrieks and a long, lone, mournful gobble.

The smug manager rocked back and forth on his heels, doing his best to portray the image of a modest, caring small-town business owner. "Well Chuck, the truth is, I love children. Nothing makes me happier than watching their faces light up with happiness."

On the couch, Maka gagged.

"I've been in the retail business for years and noticed how much the kiddos enjoyed the other holiday mascots like Santa and the Easter Bunny. And I thought to myself, why not have one for Thanksgiving? So then I..." he rambled on to the camera, unaware of the stealthy turkey that had commando-crawled away from its tormentors to come up on the other side of the reporter to whisper into his ear. Sensing that he was being presented with a story far more interesting than what he was currently covering, the reporter adeptly cut the other man off and signalled to the cameraman that they were going to keep rolling with this new development.

"Hey, everyone! TomTom the turkey here has a little problem, so we're going to help him out. Go ahead, TomTom. Say what you need to say!" he pointed the mike at the bird, who began to speak in a muffled but faintly recognizable voice.

"Thanks. I had planned out what I was gonna say, but it sounds stupid now, so I'm just gonna, uh, wing it, no pun intended. So I've been in love with this girl for way too long. No, really, it's been like this forever. We started out as best friends and before I knew it I was totally in love with her because she's the most awesome, perfect girl there is. But I never said anything because I knew that somehow I'd fu-screw it up. That hasn't worked out so well, so now I'm laying everything on the line. Ah, hold on a sec." he fumbled around, tugging the costume head off to hold under one arm.

Whut.  
What?!  
Whatwhatwhatwhat?!

Maka's jaw nearly dropped through the cheap flooring. She. Could not believe. What she was seeing. Was that her Soul standing there in a mangled turkey suit, hair matted and unkempt, cheeks red with embarrassment? Soul I-Won't-Even-Look-At-A-Fake-Mustache-Because-Costumes-Are-Lame-Evans?

HOLY FLYING CORNDOGS! IT WAS! She leaned forward in anticipation of his next words.

"I love you and I want you to be my girlfriend. Because I'm not cool without you, Maka. By myself, I'm nothin' but a giant turkey."

For several moments, Maka sat there feeling nothing at all. Her brain, the Nerdtron9000, was frying its circuits to come up with a rational, level headed response. None was forthcoming. So she did what any other girl would do in this situation; she squealed the rooftops down. Leaping to her feet, she ran in place before jumping up and down, screaming at the top of her lungs the entire time. She would have continued to do so for an interminable amount of time had it not been for the downstairs neighbor pounding on his ceiling and yelling at her to keep it down.

Dropping back down onto the couch, she grabbed a throw pillow, burying her face in it to muffle her screams. She had a boyfriend! And not just any boy, but Soul! She grinned goofily as she squeezed the pillow to her chest.

"Cool!"

Soul stood outside the door to the apartment, afraid to go in. He had totally blown it. Everything had been fine up until the moment he had the mic shoved in his face and then suddenly, the cool and well-rehearsed lines he had prepared had flown out of his mind. Soul was suddenly having an out of body experience where he watched from a point directly above himself as his mouth spewed the most atrocious flood of word vomit he had ever heard in his life. He had one chance to get his point across and finally, hopefully, move things along with Maka and he had FAILED MISERABLY. He sighed, smoothing back hair that was still slightly damp from when he had stuck his head under the sink in the restroom to try and get it under control.

Not only had he sounded like a dweeb, but he had looked like he had stuck his finger in a light socket as well. Briefly considering whether he should stay out here and die of hypothermia and embarrassment, Soul came to the conclusion that he would probably only end up with a wretched cold and look even more like a loser than he already did. He turned the knob, reluctantly prepared to face the music.

The apartment was dark, and his stomach dropped at the fact that she hadn't waited up after all. Well. Breakfast would be toast and a heaping helping of awkwardness and humiliation.

"Fucking shit." he growled, kicking off his sneakers. And as if he had spoken some kind of magical phrase, the lights flickered on, revealing Maka curled up in a blanket on the couch.

Scratch the breakfast plans; he would be having a midnight snack instead.

He dropped onto the other end of the couch gracelessly, ready to get this over with.

"Hey." he said tonelessly, eyes averted, not ready for the penetrating stare he knew she would be sending his way.

She replied shyly, not sure how to approach him now that things had taken such a drastic turn.

"Hey."

"You watched it?"

She nodded.

"Well? Put me outta my misery, Maka. I'm kinda hangin' here."

"Soul, was that really you on tv?"

"Sadly, yes, yes it was."

"In a...turkey suit?"

"Just keeps gettin' better and better, doesn't it?"

"Confessing? To me?"

"In a pathetic, gobble gobble sorta way, yes."

He was forced to look at her when she reached forward and took one of his hands to pace in her lap, her fingers stroking his soothingly. His mouth went dry at the sight of those eyes, those eyes that got to him every time, gazing at him with a warm glow

"You didn't have to go to all that trouble, you know. I would've said yes if you had just asked me." her voice was choked with a strange mix of relief, elation and mirth.

Soul scooted closer, the hand in her lap turning up to catch hold of one of hers while his other arm slid around her shoulders. Maybe he hadn't screwed up as badly as he thought.

"Maybe so, but I was always afraid I'd scare you off if I asked for anything more. It wasn't worth losing you as a friend. Besides, I had to do somethin' like this, since you seem to have this weird notion that you're not cool enough for me."

Maka's hands slapped over her mouth as she jerked away from where she had been leaning in the crook of his arm.

"Oh lord, I just realized! That turkey the other day was you!"

Soul scrunched his face in confusion. "So you saw me? But I was behind the display."

"Most of you was. Your tail feathers were sticking out. I just thought you were hiding from the herd of kids that looked like they were after your dark meat." she giggled.

"Yeah, that was me back there. I saw you and Tsubaki, and panicked like an idiot before I remembered you couldn't recognize me. Glad I did, though. One thing still bothers me; why would you ever think you were anything other than cool? That was one of the first things I ever noticed about you." he grinned. "Besides the pigtails and the nice legs, of course."

Maka leaned back into him, her head resting on his shoulder. "Because I'm not cool, Soul. I'm nerdy and violent and uptight. I can be short tempered and a bit of a prude."

She felt him shrug. "So?"

She leaned back again, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "What do you mean, so? None of those things are cool!"

Soul leaned forward, bringing a hand up to cup her jaw so they were face to face.

"Yeah, you are all of those things. But there's nothin' wrong with that. And I think you're confusing the world's view of cool with mine. Maka, you're a lot more than just the things you said. You're strong, hot, funny and hot. You're smart and a really nice person and did I mention you were hot?"

Soul had leaned closer to her as he spoke, and now their foreheads were together as she shook with laughter.

"Thanks for the ego boost. So you're telling me I meet with your approval?"

His thumb brushed over her lower lip to stroke her cheek, turning the laugh into a shaky sigh.

"I've always had damn high standards, Maka. And you've always, always exceeded them."

She raised her hands to rest on his shoulders. "Say it again Soul. What you said on tv."

The pitch of his voice deepened, causing her to shiver as his lips brushed hers as he spoke. "I love you, Maka, and I want you to be my girlfriend."

The tips of her fingers traced lightly over the back of his neck. "I love you too Soul. And I definitely want to be your girlfriend."

As soon as the words left her mouth, he pressed their lips more firmly together, his arm that was around her shoulder tightening its grip while his other hand came to rest on her waist. The kiss was soft and gentle at first, but grew in hunger and passion as she leaned backwards, pulling him on top of her. The blanket slid unnoticed and unneeded to the floor, his body heat scorching Maka through their layers of clothes. He experimented with licking and nibbling her lower lip, sucking it between his sharp teeth to hear her whimper.

The grip Maka had on the back of his neck tightened, and her legs shifted to wrap around his waist. He settled between her thighs, giving a small thrust to test her reaction. Taking the moan she let out as a sign of approval, Soul did it again, hissing as she raised up to meet him. His weight was braced on the hand that was gripping the arm of the couch, his other hand roaming from her hip to the curve of her waist and back again. Everything was fuzzy and it was hard to focus, because her body was a wonderland and he was skipping through it like Alice and everything about her was screaming 'eat me' and 'drink me' and he needed to SLOW. THE FUCK. DOWN. Because he was moving way too fast and he wasn't sure how far she wanted to go even though this was really, really nice and-

"Hey Soul?" she asked, nipping at the skin along his jaw.

"Aaaah...um, yeah?"

"Remember when you said you were still in the box, mint condition? You weren't kidding, right?"

It took him awhile to wrench his attention from the movement of their hips long enough to answer. "Yeeesss, I meant it...well, I mean, I've kinda...shifted the contents myself, but that's-"

"How about we open the box?"

Oh. Oh. That sounded wonderful. His thrusting became a bit faster at the thought. The night was going even better than expected; he had finally gotten his confession off his chest, and Maka had welcomed him with not only open arms, but open legs as well. Soul latched his mouth over the skin of her neck, his hand sneaking up her shirt to finally, after years of fantasizing, grip one of her firm, perky tits. The skin was incredibly soft and he couldn't get enough of rubbing and kneading it, running his thumb over the hardening nipple. She cried out his name, her hands tugging his shirt up to his shoulders.

KNOCK KNOCK

...They paused for a moment, then resumed their actions.

KNOCK KNOCK

It couldn't be ignored any longer; some fool was pounding at their door. Soul let out a strangled whimper. It wasn't fair! The only thing that was supposed to be pounded tonight was Maka's pussy!

KNOCKKNOCKKNOCK

"Yo, open up! I'm freezin' my godly balls off out here!"

"Black*Staaaar." Maka growled.

"You know, that's really not the name I wanted you to be moaning."

"Oh, shut up and answer the damn door."

He peeled himself off of her and stalked to the door, throwing it open to reveal their soon-to-be-late friend. Black*Star hefted a large cardboard box, pushing his way in past Soul.

"'Bout damn time. Thought I was gonna have to break the door down. Were you guys already asleep or somethin', because I...I...yi."

He halted in mid-step, taking in the disheveled appearance of his friends. Their hair was messed up from fingers running through it and their clothes were twisted and rumpled.

"Shit. I interrupted somethin', didn't I?"

Maka was the first to break the tense silence. "Black*Star, what are you even doing here? Shouldn't you be getting ready for tomorrow?"

He shifted uneasily. "That's actually why I'm here. We lost power at our place a while ago. It's probably not gonna come back on anytime soon, so Tsubaki an' me gathered up the stuff we had for tomorrow that needed to stay in the fridge and went over to Kid's. He said there was no way he was lettin' me near his kitchen sooner than he had to, so I left Tsubaki there for the night since they have reliable heat. I thought I could borrow your fridge and crash on the couch, but I can see that now's not a good time. I'll just sneak into Kid's place and-"

Maka waved a hand at him. "No, it's fine. Soul, go help him put stuff away while I grab some spare blankets and a pillow."

After issuing her orders, she headed down the hall. Black*Star toted his box into the kitchen, uncomfortably aware of fiery red eyes burning into his skull. He had barely set his load on the table when two hands wrapped around his neck and began to slowly throttle the life from him.

"You! I finally had my hands full of tits! WHAT. THE. HELL were you thinking coming here?!"

Maka poked her head into the kitchen and Soul plastered a fake smile on his face, giving Black*Star what he hoped looked like a brotherly noogie.

"Soul? What are you doing?"

"Ah, haha, nothin', just messin' around with 'Star!"

"Oh. I thought you were trying to kill him for cockblocking you, but whatever. I set up the couch. Night guys."

"Never can figure out how she always does that." Soul muttered.

Black*Star rubbed his throat. "You know Maka. All perceptive and shit. Look dude, sorry for bustin' in like this. If I'd known you guys were finally gonna get it on, I woulda made Kid take me in."

Soul sighed. He couldn't stay mad at Black*Star, not when he was being that apologetic. "It's fine. Not like I told you."

Soul began to unload the contents of the box into the fridge.

"But still. I know you've been hopin' to get with Maka forever, and I ruined your first- wait. That all felt kinda spur of the moment. You guys are usin' protection, right?"

Soul nearly dropped the glass jar he was holding. "Yeah, I'm not totally stupid. Maka's on the pill."

"Good. Wasn't ready to be an uncle quite yet."

Soul snorted. "I don't think you have to worry about that for a while. Hey, you can go ahead and use my bed. That couch is freakin' uncomfortable to sleep on."

Black*Star raised an eyebrow. "Bro, I don't think she's gonna be up for any action while I'm here."

Soul glared as he slammed the refrigerator door. "I know that! But I can at least cuddle, damn it!"

"Sure thing. I can always use your headphones if the...cuddling gets too loud."

"Shaddup."

Soul opened the door to Maka's room and slid in, closing the door behind him with a soft click. Maka propped herself up to look at him.

"Forget it. I'm not doing anything while he's here."

Soul rolled his eyes. "I come with honorable intentions. C'mon, I just want to sleep with you. Emphasis on sleep."

She bit her bottom lip. "I'm not sure that's such a good idea."

He crossed the room and slid under the covers next to her. "Hell, I know it's not. But this is as close as I'm gonna get to gettin' you in bed tonight, so I can deal with a case of blue-balls till morning."

"When you put it so romantically, how can I resist?"

They shifted around until they were comfortable, with her lying on her side as he spooned up behind her. He held her close as she drifted off to sleep, leaving him to muse about the old saying about spooning leading to forking. There would be no shift in utensils tonight, but tomorrow they were leaving early for an uninterrupted evening at home, or screw forks; the next person that disturbed them was gonna get knifed. Mildly puzzled over how he had gone from sexual to place setting themed analogies, his eyes drooped closed, and soon he began to snore softly, his breath ruffling her hair at the base of her neck.


	3. Chapter 3

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Anime/Manga » Soul Eater »  
Confessions of a Lovesick Turkey  
Author: Bitter November PM  
Soul has carried a torch for Maka for years. The combination of the worst part time job ever, an overheard conversation, and Black*Star in charge of Thanksgiving dinner may just work in Soul's favor to give him something to be thankful for.  
Rated: Fiction M - English - Romance - Maka & Soul - Chapters: 3 - Words: 34,980 - Reviews: 25 - Favs: 21 - Follows: 23 - Updated: 11-18-12 - Published: 11-12-12 - Status: Complete - id: 8698145  
A a Abc Abc Abc   
Chapter Three

Soul stood next to his dresser, wearing dress pants and a crimson button up shirt. He was debating whether or not to wear a tie, but decided against it. Since he wasn't wearing the suit jacket and the party wasn't strictly formal, he figured he could get away without having to wear the silk noose. Digging out his dress shoes, a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

Waking up this morning in Maka's bed, he had at first been disoriented and confused. As the events of the previous night came to him, he had pulled her closer, deciding that he could get used to waking up to the pleasant warmth and weight of her body. Of course, it would've been better to wake up to her warm naked body, but it beat the hell out of waking up alone. He had laid there, basking in her closeness, when she slowly woke up. A look of shock had crossed her face at seeing him there and he had thought for a moment that he would be starting off his morning with a book to the head. But then she had relaxed, giving him a soft, sleepy smile. They had cuddled in silence briefly, before she suddenly realized what day it was. He had been rudely kicked out of bed with orders to shower fast and stay out of her way.

He had done as she asked, and had found a note from Black*Star saying he had gone on ahead. That information had perked him up for a moment, but then he realized he didn't really want their first time to be a quickie. Congratulating himself on his restraint in not rushing to rip off the freshness seal on his package, he went into the living room to wait. Just as he was thinking that it might be a good idea to grab something to eat since he doubted Black*Star was going to produce anything edible, Maka came into the room, still adjusting a garnet teardrop earring.

Soul stood from the couch to take in her appearance, discreetly wiping the trickle of drool at the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. She was wearing one of her short black skirts with knee-high, shiny black leather boots. The sweater was new. It was a fluffy cashmere piece in a dark red, cut to fall off the shoulders and skim the lines of her body deliciously. She saw him staring, and did a quick spin.

"How does it look?"

He ran a finger down her neck and across her clavicles. "Do we really have to go?" he whined.

"Yes, we really have to go. But that doesn't mean we have to stay late."

Kissing her gently on the lips, he then trailed kisses along the path his finger had just taken.

"Are you sure?" he asked against her skin, one hand coming up to rub her breast through the soft material.

She pushed him away, cursing her sensible nature. "Damn it, Soul! Don't make this is harder than it already is!"

"Maka, believe me when I say you know nothing about things being 'hard'."

"Soul..." she said warningly.

He pouted, going to the hall closet to get their coats. "Fine, fine. Let's just get this thing over with."

Taking her coat from him, she patted his arm. "Cheer up! At least today you'll be eating turkey instead of wearing it!"

Neither one knew how ironic her statement was as they went out into the cold, gray morning light. Soul slid into the passenger seat of the black Honda Civic that used to belong to Maka's dad. It wasn't a long drive to Kid's house, but he decided to spend the time wisely by coming up with excuses for them to leave early.

This wouldn't be the first Thanksgiving spent at Kid's house. From seventh grade on, they had spent the holidays gathering at the home of one person or another. The only difference this time was the fact that Black*Star was taking over the place of Kid's live-in-cook. As they pulled into the long driveway, Soul mused over the difference of the other two boys. Not long after meeting Maka, he had learned about Black*Star's family history. Black*Star hadn't gone into great detail, but covered the basics. His family was one of the top families of organized crime in Japan, greatly feared for their strength and ruthlessness. The whole main branch had been wiped out during a hit gone wrong, leaving Black*Star as the last surviving member. He was barely a year old and Sid, who had been the bodyguard for the target that had been attacked, had taken Black*Star in, eventually legally adopting him and bringing him back to the states.

At the other end of the spectrum was Kid. His family had founded Death Enterprises, and there was almost nothing that they weren't involved in. Electronics, fashion, publishing, politics, those were just a few of the areas they had taken by force. Kid had spent his early years as a very sheltered child, until an incident that somehow involved the Thompson sisters opened his eyes to the harsh realities of the world. He had insisted on living a more normal life so he could identify with and help the people around him. This had somehow led to Liz and Patty moving in with him, but the reason why was never given. The others hadn't pressed the matter. Being friends didn't mean that you had to know everything about that person, but that you knew them as well as you could while respecting their personal boundaries.

As they walked up onto the porch, Maka broke into his thoughts. "Alright Soul. We both know the food is going to be an utter failure, but just try to choke down as much as you can for Tsubaki's sake. She feels bad enough about this whole thing as it is, but 'Star refused to back down on this, so we're stuck with it. Just remember we can stuff ourselves with good food tomorrow."

His breath came out in cloudy puffs as he rang the bell. "I'll try. If it gets too bad, I can always sneak my food to the dog."

Maka scrunched her brow. "But Kid doesn't have a dog."

"Give me an hour and I could fix that. Although I guess my reasons could be considered cruelty to animals."

Before Maka could reply the door was thrown open by Patty, who was wearing a short, white, furry looking dress, along with a headband with two white pompoms, giving her the appearance of a polar bear.

"Ooooh, you two showed up!" she said with a strange smile.

Maka raised an eyebrow. "Of course we showed up. Why wouldn't we?"

Patty cackled with fiendish glee. "Black*Star said you guys might be too...busy to make it. What happened? Is Soul a quick shot at more than basketball?"

Soul and Maka both blushed a matching shade of red. "I'll flip you for who gets to kill him." Soul growled.

"Nope, it's my turn. You had your chance last night, but you let him get away. I won't make the same mistake."

Patty watched with amusement as two of her friends plotted another friend's death. She loved the holidays.

"You guys might want to put your murderous plans aside and focus on something more important. Liz and Tsubaki have heard the news and they want details. NOW."

No sooner had she spoke than the other two girls appeared in the hall, wordlessly grabbing Maka by each arm and yanking her into another room. Soul watched his girlfriend disappear helplessly, knowing the torture that awaited her and unable to do anything to save her. Unless he took her place.

"Kid's in the dining room setting the table, if you want to go talk to him while Maka gets the third degree."

Soul hesitated a moment. Here, he could either go to Maka's rescue and divert the attention to himself, answering what were sure to be deeply embarrassing questions, or he could scuttle off and hide with Kid. Maka was always being critical of guys who felt like they had to ride to a woman's rescue and that she could take care of herself very well without that sort of help. Taking that as permission even though he knew that that was probably not what she meant, he nodded to Patty and ducked down the hall that led to the dining room, the delighted shrieks of the females echoing in his ears.

He found Kid midway through with putting out the place settings for the group, still mildly surprised that Kid was able to set things up without having to arrange an eighth setting.

Kid heard the sound of someone coming across the polished wood floors and looked up from the pile of silverware in front of him.

"Hello Soul. I'm surprised the girls let you get away so easily. Left Maka to face their rampant curiosity?"

"Yeah. I'll head back in when it's time to start decorating. You know, before I met you, I'd never known anyone who started gettin' ready for Christmas on Thanksgiving day."

Kid shrugged, absently adjusting the skull shaped buckle on one of his suspenders. Many took him to be a goth before they realized that all of the skull themed things he wore was more of a family crest.

"It's been a family tradition for as long as I can remember. Now, don't try to change the subject. You may have escaped the others, but I have some questions too."

Groaning, Soul pulled a chair away from the table and sat down, resting his forehead on the burnt orange tablecloth. As briefly as he could, he filled Kid in on everything that had happened, ending with Black*Star's ill-timed arrival the night before.

"I was so damn close! But then the god of all cockblocks decided to bust in and ruined everything!" Soul moaned.

Kid grinned as he threaded a black napkin through a silver skull napkin ring. "It could have been worse. He could have insisted that you to continue while he coached you through the moves."

Soul opened his mouth to protest that even Black*Star wouldn't do that, but sadly, he could imagine it. And the resulting murder that would follow once Maka got her hands on him. Then having to dispose of the body and remove all traces of blood from the apartment. It would've taken all night and he still wouldn't have gotten any. Even dead, Black*Star would still manage to cockblock him...

Suddenly a loud crash rang out, accompanied by the high pitched shatter that could only be made by something very, very expensive breaking. There was silence, followed by nervous laughter. "Whoops, my bad! Don't worry bro, I'll totally take care of that."

Kid had gone pale, his eyelids twitching. "Grandmother's punch bowl. One thing less I'll be inheriting."

"Shouldn't you go check on him? I'm actually kinda surprised that you've left him in there alone." said Soul carefully, not wanting to set off one of Kid's famous fits.

Moving on to the other napkins, Kid gave him a tight smile. "Soul. I haven't had an episode in almost a year. I can handle when Liz wears a bracelet on one wrist and nothing on the other. I can handle unevenly burning candles. I've even begun to appreciate the beauty in modern art. But I know that spending more than two minutes in there with Black*Star will send four years of expensive therapy straight to hell. That's my reason for not going in there, so what's yours? I'm sure he could use the help. You could hold the fire extinguisher at the very least."

"No way." Soul said flatly. "I'm going above and beyond duty by just eatin' his cooking, I'm not gonna risk life and limb going in there and tryin' to help."

"Then would you mind getting started taking the boxes of decorations out of the hall closet? I'll join you as soon as I finish setting up here."

"No prob. The tree's in its usual spot, right? Want me to put everything next to it?"

"That would be perfect. I'll only be a few more minutes...hm, I should probably get a stack of extra napkins to put at Black*Star's place...wait, I think we have a tarp around here somewhere..."

Soul shook his head as he left, wondering why Kid even bothered. Black*star's messes were uncontainable. One year, he had even managed to get gravy in the potted ferns that were out in the hall. Finding the closet, Soul opened the door and began pulling out the neatly stacked and carefully labeled boxes. Shoving the outside lights to a pile on the side, he grabbed the heaviest box and made his way to the living room. Maka looked up from what she had dubbed the Throne of Interrogation and glared at him.

"Coward."

Setting the box at the base of the tree, he smiled at her uneasily. "Ehheh. I just figured you could use some...girl time?" he tried.

She crossed her arms, scowling darkly. "Not buying it, Benedict Evans."

"Come on, Maka. You shouldn't call a guy with such great drumsticks a traitor." smirked Liz, straightening the hem of her chocolate brown sweater dress.

Inwardly, Soul winced. Let the turkey jokes begin...for the first time, he noticed the expressions that the other girls wore. He had seen that look before, but where? Ah yes, in the Spongebob episode where Spongebob catches Squidward eating a Krabby Patty.

As Patty danced around singing Turkey in the Straw, he shot a baleful look at Tsubaki. "Well? Don't you have anything to add?"

Tsubaki, sitting in the chair next to Maka in a long black skirt and a sapphire blue wrap shirt with bell sleeves, grinned over at him. "I won't tease you. But while you're up, would you mind...shaking your tail feathers?"

The girls collapsed into a fit of giggles, causing Soul to stalk out of the room in affronted dignity. "I'll have you know that I only shake this fine piece of meat for Maka!" he tossed back.

He heard Tsubaki ask Maka, "So, does he have a, 'fine piece of meat'?"

"I wouldn't know. Your fiance interrupted us before we could get to the taste test." was Maka's dry reply.

Various images of taste tests and their results began to plague Soul's mind, and he began to bang his head into the wall to dispel them.

"You know, I can give you the number for my therapist. I'm sure she could help you,"

"Unless she knows a way to instantly cure sexual frustration, don't bother."

Kid leaned over to grab a box. "Soul, I live with two girls who have no problem with running around the house in nothing but their underwear. Trust me, I'm the governor of the state of sexual frustration." he said gloomily. Suddenly thankful that Maka had never been that relaxed around him, Soul picked up another box and followed Kid into the living room.

Thankfully, everyone's attention shifted from Soul and Maka to the task at hand; setting up Kid's house for Christmas. They left Kid to happily untangle the lights while the others found less tedious things to do. Liz and Tsubaki worked on putting up the garlands and wreaths, while Patty managed to avoid all work by dancing from group to group. Soul and Maka began to set out the ornaments to be put on the tree, carefully putting the breakable ones in a separate spot.

The air between the two was thick with sexual tension, and Maka had to make a conscious effort not to rub her thighs together. She had always been able to deal with her attraction before, but Soul had never looked at her with such naked lust, and that coupled with the memory of his touch was doing very little for her peace of mind.

Her hands shook as she set aside another ornament and Maka made the mistake of looking into his eyes. They had darkened several shades, and were half-lidded. He wore a lazy, teasing smirk, and her attention was drawn from that to the movement of his hand. Cupped in his fingers was a round blown-glass ornament, colored lightly pink except for a darker, slightly raised bubble at the bottom where the color had gathered. Soul was using his middle finger to rub circles around the bump, and Maka noticed that the way he held it made it look almost as if he was caressing- her eyes darted back to his face, his smirk widening when he saw that she had caught on.

Oh, he was good! Deciding she shouldn't be the only one to suffer, she selected a long red ornament that flared and rounded at the bottom. Holding it upside down, she slowly ran her finger along the side.

"Hm. This one seems a little dusty." she whispered, so as not to draw attention. Placing it between her breasts, she began to rub it up and down, as if wiping it off on her sweater. She grinned as Soul's eyes widened and his jaw went slack. Good. She hoped he was imagining it was his dick that she was stroking with her-

CRACK!

The ornament in Soul's hand shattered, shards of glass falling to the floor.

They both jerked guiltily, eyes scanning the room to see if they had been noticed. Luckily, Patty had put on a CD and turned the volume up high, so no one even glanced up from their respective places around the room  
.

Soul brushed the bits of glass from his hand, carefully removing one sliver that had gotten stuck in his index finger. "Damn." he hissed, wincing at the sting. He was about to stick his finger in his mouth to stop the bleeding when Maka grabbed his hand.

"Soul, you're bleeding!" she said with concern, raising his finger to her lips.

Soul's eyes bugged out. She wasn't going to do that, was she? Stick his finger into her warm, wet mouth?

She couldn't!

She wouldn't!

She mustn't!

She shouldn't!

But she did.

Choking as his finger was slid past her lips into her waiting mouth, he was enveloped by the sensations of her tongue lapping at the small cut, the action soothing one part of his body while tormenting another. That was all well and good until she began to suck on it, and his mind swan-dived into the gutter.

Ripping his finger out of her mouth, he grabbed her arm and shoved her behind the tree, following her and pressing her into the corner before she could recover from her shock. He pinned her to the wall with his body, gripping her shoulders as their heavy breathing heated up the air in the tight space.

"You know, when I dream about you sucking me, that's not quite how I picture it." he growled into her ear, scraping his teeth along the shell as he thrust his hips into her.

She blushed at his words, trying to regain control of her emotions. Her voice came out unsteadily as she pushed at his shoulders. "Soul, stop it! Someone's going to hear us!"

He smirked against the skin of her neck, licking and sucking at the patch below her ear. Her attempts to get him to move were pathetic. He had seen her throw Black*Star across a room; he knew damn well she could get him to stop if she really wanted to.

"No one's gonna hear us over the music. And if you really want me to stop, you shouldn't be moving your hips like that."

Maka's attention was split between his words, the throbbing in her panties, and the feel of his mouth as he worked his way from her shoulders to her upper chest, leaving a damp, scalding path of what would most likely be-

"Soul! That's going to leave a mark!"

He nipped at her playfully. "A mark? When I get done, you're gonna look like you belong in Patty's giraffe collection."

She tugged at his hair, momentarily halting his assault on her once pale and unmarked flesh.

"What is your problem? You've waited for years, can't you be patient for one more day?"

"It's easy to be patient for something that you think is never gonna happen. But I had a taste of you last night, and today you're just too fuckin' hot to resist."

Instead of continuing his previous actions, he lowered his head to kiss her and she melted into him. She could understand where he was coming from, but now was really not the time or place, no matter how good his lips felt, or the way he was squeezing a breast, or the hand that had snuck up her skirt and was slowly, dangerously making its way up her inner thigh...okay, she would let him get one or two good rubs in, and then she would definitely stop him. His fingers slid closer, closer...

"If you two are done testing out the mistletoe back there, I could use some help." Tsubaki sang out from the other side of the tree. Soul dropped his hands, flopping his head on her shoulder in despair.

"Oh look. It's Bride of Cockblock, coming to pick up where her mate left off."

Maka slapped his arm, sliding around him. "Hush, you know she's our friend."

"Sometimes, I wonder. I really do..."

Elbowing him in the ribs, she straightened her clothes as she joined Tsubaki. "What did you need help with?"

Tsubaki gestured to the wall, leading them in that direction. "I need someone to help me hold up the other end of the garland while I hook it on the wall, and someone else to make sure its hanging straight. There's another ladder right over there."

Soul hung back while Maka got the ladder. "How did you know that we were, uh...you know..."

"It was getting way too hot. The candy canes were starting to melt off of the tree." Tsubaki grinned, grabbing one end of the garland and climbing the ladder. Maka returned with the other ladder, and Soul joined Tsubaki, since Maka didn't want to risk her boot catching on the rungs. She guided their actions from the floor, chatting with Tsubaki between instructions.

"Hey Tsubaki? Is the power still off at your place?"

Tsubaki eyed her work critically. "Probably. We usually lose it for days at a time. I think we might stay at my family's house until it gets fixed."

"Wow, your apartment is even crappier than ours." Maka mused as she handed them more hooks. "Couldn't you guys move into a better place? I thought your parents said they would help with the bills if you did."

Smiling softly as she worked a loop of garland over a hook, Tsubaki answered, "Yes, that's true. But we chose to live where we are on purpose. After we graduate and my parents turn over the running of the company to us, we are going to be financially well off. Black*Star thinks we will be more appreciative of things if we work hard to earn them instead of just having everything handed to us, and I agreed. We're trying to live by our own means as much as possible. It's not always easy, but I think it's brought us even closer together."

"I'm kinda jealous of you, Tsubaki," Soul spoke up from the other ladder. "You're the only one who know what 'Star's like when he uses his brain. The rest of us only get him when he's doing somethin' crazy. Or naked. Or crazy and naked.'

Tsubaki chuckled. "Oh, believe me, I get plenty of crazy naked action."

Maka had to grab hold of Soul's ladder, since he was choking and spluttering so hard it had started to tilt.

"God, Tsubaki, talk about TMI!" Soul blushed as he regained his footing.

"Oh, come on, it wasn't that bad! Besides, it was just to get back at you for implying that Black*Star doesn't use his brain. I admit he can come across a big goofball, but-"

She was cut off by a rumbling sound from the kitchen. Everyone froze, and then released a familiar cry that had been yelled countless times over the years.

"Black*Star!"

They galloped down the hall to the kitchen, Soul managing to edge Maka out of the lead because she slipped on a rug.

They hung outside the door, all curious but too experienced in the ways of the Star to go in.

"Come on, Kid. You should open the door. It's your house."

"Sure thing, as long as you'll spring for the next round of therapy, Maka."

"Screw this. I'm goin' in." Soul said, hiding his trepidation. He turned the knob and quickly stepped into the room, the door falling shut on his cry of, "Holy shit! What happened in-"

BAM!

There was a loud explosion, followed by the sounds of wet, meaty globules splattering across every available surface.

Like some poorly written horror movie, the door swung open to reveal the carnage within.

Pale chunks of meat were still raining down, like poultry icing on a cake of culinary atrocity. Blobs of mashed potatoes ran over a pot on the stove, dripping down to the floor and covering the surrounding counters. Some had even managed to make its way onto the ceiling. Bottles of spices and seasonings lay scattered about, their contents mixing and swirling together to make a colorful mosaic of exotic flavors. Bowls full of mysterious substances covered the table, and it looked like every available utensil had been pulled out of their drawers and been put to use, although not necessarily how they had been intended to. Standing in the middle of it all was a sheepish looking Black*Star, dressed in jeans and a blue sweater that Tsubaki had knitted for him, covered in a filthy blue apron.

Everyone's attention was diverted from the culprit by the sound of maniacal laughter. Soul, poor sacrificial lamb of the cosmos that he was, had been just in time to catch the brunt of the explosion. Bits of greasy meat clung to his hair, dripping down his face to land on his clothes. In short, he was a damp, proteiny mess.

The muscles in his face began to twitch, as he gazed at a handful of what was once meant to be their main course but was now masquerading as a hair styling product.

"Turkey, turkey, turkey...everywhere there's turkey! From one turkey suit to another! I can't escape it, so I might as well embrace it! Gobble gobble GOOOOOBBBBLLEEE!"

Maka stepped carefully across the kitchen floor, tugging at a small corner of his ungunked sleeve. "Come on, Soul," she crooned. "You can have your mental breakdown after you get cleaned up. Coooome on, come this way..."

The others watched as she led the still gobbling boy from the room, Liz following to get Soul a change of clothes.

A pale Kid had whipped out his cellphone. "Yes, I'll be needing to double my weekly appointments. And I think I should set up a session for a friend. I'm not sure...I guess you would call it...poultry anxiety?"

Maka and Liz poked their heads back in as he ended his call, watching Tsubaki and a meek Black*Star attempting to clean the mess while Patty hummed happily to herself, making sculptures out of the mashed potato gloop.

"Kid, I gave Soul a set of your clothes to wear when he gets out of the shower. Is that ok?"

Kid stuffed the phone in the pocket of his slacks, careful to keep the shambles of his once pristine kitchen behind him. "Of course. Under normal circumstances I'd say leave him a set of yours to freak him out, but his mental balance seems a bit strained at the moment."

Patty laughed from her squatting position on the floor, giving her dinosaur turkey bit back spines. "Poooor Soul, forced to wear a fake turkey, then gets out of it only to have to wear a real one! And he's proooobably frustrated since Maka won't play niiiiice!"

Maka struggled to play dumb. "What do you mean? I've been nice to Soul all day!"

Patty cocked her head innocently. "Really? Because I thought it was kinda mean to give that ornament a titty-"

"Alright, everyone! Let's go into the living room!" Kid broke in, eager to stop the mashed potato wrestling match before it could get started.

Black*Star waved them out. "I'll clean this all up, you guys go ahead."

Kid grabbed him by the ear on his way out. "Especially you. I'm interested to hear how my kitchen went from state of the art to something an entire cleaning crew will be hard-pressed to salvage."

"Ow, owowow! Ok, just let go! And can anyone tell me why Soul flipped out? I was expectin' Kid to go bat-shit crazy on me, not him!"

"Ah, I forgot you didn't get to hear." Tsubaki tugged her bumbling fiance over to the side to fill him in as everyone made themselves comfortable in the living room. They waited in silence, broken only by Black*Star's loud guffaws as he learned the true nature of Soul's part time job. He and Tsubaki sat down on the loveseat, and Kid finally asked the question that had been burning in everyone's minds.

"Alright, you've kept us in suspense long enough. Let us have the whole sordid story, spare no details." Kid drawled, crossing his legs and rested his chin in his hand, arm propped on the armrest of his black leather chair.

Black*Star scratched the back of his head nervously. "Well, to tell the truth, it was all goin' pretty good until up to a few minutes ago. A little messy, but nothin' I couldn't handle. Then it was time to do the turkey, so I shoved in the can of beer, and dropped that sucker in the deep fryer, and-"

"Holy mother of Death, please tell me you're joking." Kid facepalmed.

"Oh Black*Staaaar..." Tsubaki wailed.

"Damn, Black*Star! Haven't you seen enough YouTube videos to know that you don't deep fry a turkey? You're lucky you didn't set the place on fire!" Liz choked out between inelegant snorts, leaning into Patty for support.

"What gets me is why you insisted you be the one to cook this year. Usually you're happy enough to eat everything in sight, so why make such a big deal out of it this year?" Maka asked from her perch on the couch.

Black*Star blushed, looking at Tsubaki with large, sad puppy eyes. "Ah, well, I noticed how Soul and Maka always take turns cookin', and even Kid knows his way around enough to make Liz and Patty stuff on special occasions. Tsubaki always gets stuck with that job at our place, so when I heard your cook was goin' on vacation this year, I thought I'd take a shot at it and give the rest of you a break, ya know?"

Tsubaki pulled him into a hug. "Black*Star, I do the cooking because I enjoy it, not because I feel like I have to."

"Really?" he asked hopefully.

"Yes, I like it much better than having to clean the kitchen."

"That's all cute and romantic and shit, but has anyone figured out what we're gonna eat? 'cause I'm pretty sure that whatever's in the kitchen is a lost cause." said Soul, walking silently in socked feet into the living room. His hair was still damp, and he was wearing a black hoodie with a neon green skull on the front and a pair of black jeans. The only sign of his earlier outfit was the pair of black dress socks on his feet. He plopped down next to Maka with a large sigh, and she rubbed his back sympathetically.

"Were you able to get it all out?" she asked.

"Not sure. Would you check my hair?" Soul took the opportunity to lay his head in her lap with a self satisfied smirk, nearly purring as her fingers ran through his hair searching for stray turkey chunks.

"Kiiiiid, I'm getting hungry." Patty growled, sending a shiver throughout the room. A hungry Patty was a dangerous Patty.

Kid glared at Black*Star as he fished out his phone. "Thanks to Black*Star, I'm left with no choice. I'm calling in the Colonel."

"Dude, I said I was sorry! No reason to start a war over it!"

"Yes, I'd like to place an order. I need ten buckets of extra crispy, three original, four sides of mashed potatoes, and three of mac and cheese...You're having a special today? Turkey instead of chicken?"

He raised an eyebrow questioningly and was met with five frantically shaking heads, and the sounds of a muffled whimper from Maka's lap.

"No, I believe we'll be sticking with chicken. Ready in thirty minutes? Perfect, thank you." he ended the call and stood up. "I'll go pick up the food. Patty, be brave and go get some paper plates out of the kitchen, please. I'll stop by the store and pick up a few bottles of pop while I'm out."

"I'll come with ya. Least I can do is carry stuff." Black*Star bounced to his feet, running to grab his coat from the rack in the hall.

Kid shot Tsubaki a long suffering look. "Is there anything special I should take to keep him under control? Coloring books, leash? Taser, perhaps?"

"He'll be fine as long as you make sure he doesn't get any candy at the store. Be careful, he's sneaky."

"ROADTRIP!" came a bellow from the doorway.

"We're just going across town, for gods sake!" Kid yelled back. He turned to the others. "I'm going to regret taking him, aren't I?"

"Remember when we all drove down to Disney World?" Soul called.

Kid shuddered. They were still covering that in therapy. "Anyone else want to take him? Anyone at all? Please? No, Patty. I remember what happened the last time I let you drive the car. Liz, do this for me and I'll buy you any five of those designer purses you like."

Liz shook her head with a grin. "Nope. Last time I drove with him, he sang along to the radio nonstop. Which would be fine, if he didn't sound like a bullfrog having a straw blown up its ass."

He turned to Maka with a hopeful smile. "Maka! You'll do it for me, won't you? I can get you access to the rare books section of the library."

A hand clamped down on his shoulder, causing Kid to spin around to find Black*Star, sadly shaking his head.

"That's low, man. Bribing your friends so you can ditch me? I thought we were bros, homies! I'm not a kid anymore; you can trust me to behave myself. It hurts that you have so little faith in me."

"You're right, I'm ashamed. You've shown remarkable signs of maturity lately, and it's just two stops. Please forgive my insensitive remarks. If you still want to come, I'll grab my coat and we'll go now."

Black*Star beamed, slapping him on the back. "No sweat! Let's make our grub run before Patty decides to go cannibal on us!"

He followed Kid to the door, looking back to give the rest of them a wink and a wiggle of his eyebrows.

Sighing as the door clicked shut, Tsubaki said, "You do realize he's going to do his best to drive Kid crazy now, right?"

Liz waved a hand airily as she sat in Kid's vacated seat. "No big deal. His therapist is always telling him he needs to push his limits."

Two hours and a spastically twitching Kid later, they sprawled about the living room, stuffed to the gills on fast food chicken. Soul slouched on the couch in a mellow, carb induced stupor, twirling a drumstick between his fingers and wondering when he had sunk to such levels of horndoggery that watching Maka lick chicken grease from her fingers had him fighting down a boner. Thoughts drifting to methods of ensuring that no one interrupted them tonight, he missed what was being said around him.

Until Black*star elbowed him sharply in the ribs, saying, "Dude, dude, are you listenin'? She wants your bone!"

Soul's body snapped up, his hand slipping on the greasy bone and almost dropping it as his other fist shot out to punch Black*Star. "What the fuck! Don't go there man!"

Maka coughed on her laughter, her hand still outstretched. "Um, Soul? He was trying to tell you that I was going to take care of that if you want. The chicken bone, not the...other."

He couldn't meet her eyes as he silently handed her his plate and watched as she walked out of the room; this had to be his most mortifying Thanksgiving yet.

"Guess I know where your mind is, you sly dog, you!" Black*Star cackled, about to play a rousing game of tease the turkey.

Soul sank back into his seat, head bowed, bangs covering his eyes. "Black*Star, I swear, if you do anything, anything to ruin tonight or tomorrow, I swear I will make it my life mission to cockblock you until your wedding night."

The grin slipped sideways on Black*Star's face. "Uh, we ain't gettin' married for about two more years." he reminded, sliding nervously from his friend.

"I know."

Black*Sar sat back to think about that. "That's...twisted. I was just messin' around! As soon as you guys head out that door, you're off limits until the next time I see you, okay?"

"Glad we understand one another."

"What are you guys talking about? Or is it safer not to know?' asked Maka, having rejoined them along with Tsubaki.

"Hey! We're missin' the game!" Black*star yelped, grabbing the remote and turning on the big screen tv, finding the channel he was looking for. Shooting them suspicious looks, Tsubaki and Maka sat down on the couch between the two boys, tired after the meal and ready to doze through the game. Kid had gone to the other room to take a call from his dad, and Liz had broken out her nail polish while Patty did strange and wonderful things with a chunk of modeling clay set up on her tv tray.

Soul slid his arm around Maka's shoulders, pulling her closer to him. She nuzzled against the front of his hoodie with a sigh, content to sit there in lazy silence as his fingers ran through her hair or rubbed the back of her neck. They sat that way for nearly thirty minutes when Maka, half asleep, squeezed his thigh affectionately and smiled up at him. All thoughts of napping were banished when she saw the look in his eyes, as he took her hand in his and slowly pulled it further up his thigh, her fingers catching on the rough denim as the tips barely reached the bulge in the front of his pants. She sucked in her breath as he dipped his head to whisper in her ear.

"Was Black*Star right, Maka? Do you want my bone?"

It was a good thing she was sitting down, because she didn't think her legs could support her at this point. His voice alone was doing things to her body, holding promises of delightfully sinful things to come. If she didn't know any better, she would think he had much more experience than he did. The thought of being the one to take him on his first test drive turned her on, never mind that she herself was going by second hand knowledge. In one smooth motion, she moved her body sideways to get up, blocking the view from the rest of the room as she gave him a single firm stroke through his jeans, mouthing, 'I want it,' hoping she looked sexy instead of stupid. He practically arched up off the couch, having to stand as well to disguise what was going on.

"It's been fun, but I saw that it was supposed to rain soon, and I want to get home before it starts. See you all later!"

Liz looked up from the magazine she had been reading. "Aw, I was hoping you'd stay longer, but if you have to go, I understand. Soul, I'll drop your clothes at the cleaners for you."

"No problem," he answered, getting their coats. "I'll get this stuff back to Kid later this week."

They all said their goodbyes, and they were almost out the door and home clear before Black*Star stopped them.

"Here Maka, catch!" he tossed her a small, cylindrical shaped object, which she deftly caught and stared at in confusion.

"What is this?"

"It's a turkey whistle!" he crowed triumphantly. "I found it at the store while I was out with Kid! Now Soul will come when you call. Heh, if you use it right, he may even come when you-"

Tsubaki slapped a hand over his mouth before he could finish. "See you guys later! Maka, call me if you want to go shopping on Saturday."

"Sure thing. Later guys!" Maka stuffed the offending gift into her pocket and dragged Soul to the car before he could inflict grievous bodily harm on their prank loving friend. They drove in tense silence for a few moments, before Soul caught her shooting him glances out of the corner of her eye while she worried her lower lip between her teeth.

"Eyes off my crotch and on the road, or we're gonna have a wreck."

Her hands clenched on the steering wheel, cheeks reddening with the embarrassment of being caught. "I wouldn't look if you would stop...stop adjusting yourself!" she spat.

"You try gettin' comfortable with a hard on in jeans." he muttered, turning his face to stare out the window. He would be fine now if it wasn't for her little grope earlier; but he couldn't get the feeling out of his head, and it was like her hand was still on him and-

Oh.

It was still on him!

"Holy shit, Maka!" he gripped her wrist, not sure whether he intended to pull her away or guide her actions.

"Damn it Maka, you should keep both hands on the wheel!" he grit out.

Her treacherous hand continued to fondle him. "Just pretend I'm driving stick."

Well, when she put it like that, it made perfect sense! She could carry on working him from first drive to sec- no! Bad Soul!

"Hngh! MaHAka, thisss isn't good!" he said, hypocritically keeping her hand firmly between his legs.

"I'm sorry," she sighed, "Maybe I should've let you drive. Then I could have done better, although I don't think doing it from the passenger seat is the best angle for a first time blowjob."

Fuck. FuckfuckfuckfuckfuckityMcFuc kus! They had been going out for less than twenty-four hours, and she was already talking about giving him roadhead! His left hand gripped hers, stopping her movements, while his right hand jerked up to cover his nose, fearful he was about to have an unsightly nosebleed.

"Just hurry up and get us home," he whined, caring not how utterly uncool he sounded.

"Soul, we're turning onto our street."

"Not fast enough!"

Maka pulled into their parking spot in front of the building, barely having time to shut off the engine and unbuckle her seatbelt before Soul was out of the car and yanking open her door. As soon as she was out, he slammed the door shut and had her pressed up against the cold metal, his mouth crashing down on hers. He ran his hands down to lift her by the back of her thighs, cursing the layers of winter clothes between them, not caring that he was practically humping her in front of the whole neighborhood. He knew he should get himself under control, but it was nearly impossible when she had her legs wrapped around him and was moaning in the back of her throat. Bringing a hand to touch her cheek, he noticed how cold her skin was.

"Hey, we better get inside before I end up doing you out here."

Maka giggled, burying her face in the crook of his neck. "Out here against the car? What would Nana say!"

Reluctantly, he lowered her legs so she could stand, although he didn't move away. "She would say it was about bloody time," he chuckled, mimicking his grandmother's thick german accent. "She's demanding I supply her with green-eyed great grandkids."

"What! It's way too soon! I'd like to at least wait a year or two after we're marr...ied..." she trailed off in a small voice as she realized what she was implying. "Um, what I mean is-"

Soul bumped their foreheads together, wondering if the huge grin he was wearing was going to permanently stretch his face out of shape.

"I'll let her know she still has a few years to wait, then."

Maka ducked her head and slid around him, tugging at his wrist. "It's getting cold, let's get inside."

Letting her lead him like a lamb to smutty slaughter, he recalled that it was only a short while ago that he had been imagining Maka with some other guy and a herd of tiny clones. Now the image shifted to trade the other guy for him, and the little pigtailed girls smiled up at him with tiny, pointed teeth.

"Gaah! Soul, what are you doing!" she shrieked, clutching his shoulders.

He had scooped her up to jog to the building, a wicked look on his face. They may not be ready for kids just yet, but until then, they could get in a lot of practice...starting NOW.

Stepping into the apartment, it was instantly clear that the heat had once again gone AWOL.

"Damn it, it's freezing in here!" Maka grumbled, shucking her coat and sliding the contents of the hall closet to hang it along with Soul's. She felt his arms wrap around her waist to pull her to him, his breath tickling her ear.

"Don't worry, I plan on keepin' you plenty warm."

She turned in his arms to peck him on the cheek. "Wow, you must be really horny if you're using lame lines like that!"

"Not gettin' enough blood to the right head to come up with anything better." he said, hands skimming over her back to palm the toned muscles of her ass.

Slipping a finger through a belt loop, she tugged his hips into hers, giving him a smoky look from under her eyelashes.

"It's okay. We have all night and tomorrow to work it out of your system."

His fingers reflexively tightened their grip as he moved their bodies together.

"Don't say that if you don't mean it. It's cruel to tease a guy like that."

With a sly smile, she reached between them to trace his length through his jeans, applying just enough pressure to make him long for more.

"But Soul, you seemed to like it when I was teasing you earlier." she purred, growing more excited at his needy reactions. Soul had always been a laid back person, so watching him get all worked up because of her was like a drug.

He covered her hand with his larger one, forcing her to use shorter, rougher movements, his eyes shining with a hungry light.

"Maka, it's takin' all I've got not to caveman carry you to my room and throw you on the bed." he warned darkly.

That actually sounded rather pleasant, she mused, but opted to walk on her own two feet instead. Turning her hand over to clasp their fingers together, she lead him to his room, while he stuck as close to her as possible, sneaking quick kisses and squeezes wherever he could. She had always thought of him as shark-like, but his actions now were more that of a remora.

Entering his room, a sudden bout of shyness hit them as they saw the bed and realized exactly how real their situation was. It was funny; they had almost done it in the car and in the hall, but then the bed seemed to be a screaming symbol of sex that brought home the fact that neither really knew what they were doing. Swallowing her trepidation, Maka walked to the bed, lifting one leg to unzip her boot and peel it from her calf, tossing it to the floor. As she removed the other, Soul came to sit in front of her, watching as more of her slender legs became exposed.

Her other boot joined its twin, and Soul lifted her leg into his lap, slowly running his hands up the curve of her calf, tickling the back of her knee before hooking his finger in the top of her stocking. He inched the silky material down, caught between holding her gaze and the sight of the creamy skin of her thighs, the paleness a stark contrast with the sheer black leg coverings.

"I'd rather take these off with my teeth, but I know I'd probably screw that up." he explained, finally freeing her foot completely.

"You'd most likely shred them with those teeth of yours." she laughed affectionately, her nervousness fading. Without being asked, she gave him her other leg so he could repeat the process. She noticed he was tilting his head strangely.

"Soul? Are...you looking up my skirt?"

"Duh."

"You're not even ashamed!" she cried, smacking the side of his head in mock anger.

He paused, stocking mid-way down her leg. "Maka, the idea is to get you totally naked. I'm gonna see it eventually. But if you wanna distract me with something else..." he trailed off, leering exaggeratedly at her. It was strange, but the combination of his lust and goofiness set her more at ease, making her feel bold. Gripping the hem of her sweater, she lifted it at a teasing pace, the lines and angles of her torso burning under his greedy eyes. Twisting to the side, she fully removed her top and flung it to his desk chair, turning back to face him in her strapless, lacy black bra.

Soul had a difficult time swallowing: the cups were thin and see through, the opaque sections of the lace barely covering nipples that were stiff from the cold air of the room and arousal.

She rubbed the goosebumps on her arms, unaware of the way it caused her breasts to shift together and strain enticingly against the bra. "Soul, I'm getting kind of cold just standing here."

"Yeah...I can see that." he answered in a dazed voice, quickly removing her stocking and placing her foot back on the ground. Bringing his hands to her waist, he pulled her closer, his breath hot on the skin of her stomach. Hesitating only briefly, he placed light, butterfly kisses along her abdomen, his tongue slipping out to taste the skin. He felt her breasts push into his head, and leaning back, Soul brought her down to straddle his lap, his mouth firmly latching on to the tip of a breast.

Maka tossed her head back with a cry at the dual sensation of rough lace and his warm, wet tongue, her hands clutching at the back of his head. Soul varied the pressure, testing out gentle licks and sharp nips, gauging her reactions to see what brought her the most pleasure. His hands blindly worked the clasp on her bra, grasping the strip that connected the cups between his teeth and removing it from her completely.

Before she could register this and cover herself, his mouth was on the previously neglected breast and Maka sighed; it felt so much better without the cloth in the way. Rocking her hips into his, she grew impatient for more, slender hands working their way to the bottom of his hoodie to lift it to his shoulders, where Soul detached himself from her long enough to let her pull it over his head. Pushing him down on the mattress, she began to grind into him at a faster pace, the feel of her bare tits rubbing against his naked chest sending sparks of electricity throughout his system.

Dimly, he was aware of her dragging herself down his body, her tongue trailing from his neck to his chest, joining her fingers to play with the defined valleys and ridges of his abs. Maka was living out one of her deepest fantasies; she had always admired the lean musculature of his body, always been curious to find out if it tasted as good as it looked. She was delighted to find that it didn't; it tasted much, much better. Spying a line of thin, white hairs, she followed the path of his happy trail, the flesh under her mouth quivering with the stimulating contact. She followed it as far as the edge of his pants, her fingers nimbly undoing them to push them along with the dark blue boxers he wore down out of her way, her goal finally uncovered.

Soul propped himself up on his elbows, his foggy mind trying to wrap itself around the sight that confronted him. Maka was nestled between his legs, her hair messed up from where he had been running his hands through it, cheeks flushed and bare tits heaving. She had a wicked look in her dark green eyes, her cheeks a rosy color as her parted lips hovered a heartbreakingly short distance from the tip of his cock. He could see what she had in mind.

Torn between clapping his hands with joy and sobbing in relief, he was only able to lay there uselessly, as if more than just his dick had been turned to stone. Knowing he should do the gentlemanly thing and tell her that she didn't have to do that, Soul opened his mouth, the words coming out thick and clumsy.

"Maka, it's okay, you don't-"

A fingertip running from base to tip silenced him with a gasp, good intentions fluttering off like flighty butterflies.

"Were you really about to tell me you didn't want this?" she asked, starting to steadily pump him.

"Hngh rftsle."

"Changed your mind?" she asked once more, placing a faint kiss on the head that had him convinced his cock was going to leap right off of his body and dive straight down her throat.

"HnGAaaNha!"

"Glad you feel that way."

She took his tip into her mouth, swirling circles around the head, taking him in deeper as she gradually got used to having him there. What she couldn't take in she worked with her hand, squeezing at the base as her fingernails lightly scraped at his balls, cupping them more firmly as she felt them begin to tighten. Soul had sat up and his hands were buried in her hair as he shouted broken versions of her name, too lost in the raw pleasure she was giving him to warn her of his impending eruption. She had to find out the hard way, a twitch and a throb, the only signs that something was about to happen.

It was more from surprise and reflex that Maka swallowed, rather than any intention to be deliberately sexy. But that didn't matter to Soul, who was blissed out on his first non-self induced orgasm.

Wiping any lingering traces of him onto the sheets, she stretched out beside him, fascinated by his body's reactions, from the way his eyes had glazed over to the way the muscles in his neck tense and relaxed, a bead of sweat breaking away from his hairline to roll down his cheek. Idly, she leans forward to lick it away, the taste salty on the tip of her tongue.

As he floated back into awareness and registered her action, he turned his head to slant his lips against hers, life returning to his numb limbs.

Aware that the pleasure scales were unfairly balanced in his favor, Soul sat up, pulling her along with him. Seeing no reason to keep his pants on now that the goods had been thoroughly inspected, he kicked them off, standing totally naked before her.

Maka had no idea why she was suddenly embarrassed; he had just come in her mouth, there was no reason to get all flustered at his nudity.

"Well, that's one fantasy ticked off my checklist." he said, looming over her body. "Let's try for two."

Swiftly, he unzipped the side of her skirt and lowered it over her hips, pushing her back so he could remove it completely. Discarding it blithely, she was left in only a pair of panties that matched her departed bra. The front was a sharp triangle, the thin straps resting low on her hips.

His fingers danced along the edges, ghosting over the crease of her thigh. Maka tried to clench her legs shut, but she was too slow and suddenly he was stroking over her lace covered slit. Words of protest died in her throat, and all that mattered to her then was to experience more of the feelings he was awakening in her body.

"Sooouuul!"

His breath hitched at the sound of his name; never had she spoken it in that tone. Her body arched under him as she sought to get closer to his hand. Deciding that as nice as her panties were, they really must be going and met the same fate as her skirt.

He found that by kneeling and pulling her towards him, she was on a perfect level for him to study. Carefully parting her folds, he was transfixed by how pink they were, shiny and slippery looking from the fluid that dripped from her opening. Her mouth had been incredible, but Soul knew he was made to go here. Mouth watering, he flicked his tongue out, running it up to circle around the small bundle of nerves. He nearly jerked back when she shrieked his name, afraid he had done something wrong until her thighs locked his head in place.

As he had with her breasts, he tested out varying pressures and speeds, his fingers coming to join his mouth in his attempt to get her to go as incoherent as he had earlier. He found the right combination by sucking on her clit as he pumped his finger in and out of her, her muscles pulling him deeper into her, causing him to moan at the thought of what that would feel like when he replaced it with his cock. The resulting vibrations were too much for her to handle, and he had to hold her legs down so she wouldn't concuss him with her kicking.

Getting her off had gotten him hard again, and it was with a mix of desperation and restraint that he adjusted her body on the bed, positioning himself over her to wait for her mind to rejoin her body. Contenting himself with rubbing himself along her core, his breath quickened in anticipation as he scattered small kisses on her jawline. Slowly, awareness crept into her eyes, and she began to respond to him, hands tangling in his hair to guide his mouth to hers.

Reaching down, he positioned himself.

"Are you...can I...?"

He was surprised when she pushed at his shoulders, rolling him off of her.

"Maka? Did I do somethin' wrong?" he asked, panic creeping into his voice.

"No! Of course not! I just wondered if...could I be on top?"

His mind weighed the pros and cons, struggling over the screams of his cock to just let her mount him already.

1\. He would be getting sex.  
2\. Maka would be in control of the movements, which would hopefully minimize her pain.  
3\. He would be getting sex.  
4\. She would be riding him.  
5\. He would be getting sex.  
6\. He would get to watch as she sank onto his dick.  
7\. He would be getting sex.

So, that was seven solid reasons in the pro category. Now for cons.

1\. ...He had nothing.

That left it seven to none in favor of her request.

"Sure, sounds good to me." Soul said, trying not to sound as if his dick hadn't just strapped on a party hat and started to do the Samba.

Watching avidly as she got into position over him, her weight balanced on her knees in a kneeling position while she held him steady, Soul placed his hands on her hips for something to do.

Her face furrowed in concentration as Maka lowered herself onto him, both of them letting out hisses as she took him in. His fingers dug into her as he concentrated on not moving, his senses on overload from the way she fit snugly around him.

Getting used to the sensation of being filled and stretched, Maka cautiously began to move, the pain becoming more manageable as she focused on her rhythm.

"Soul? Does this...feel okay?" she asked between pants.

Was she joking? It was all he could do to keep his eyes from rolling back in his skull at the sight of himself sliding in and out of her alone!

"Ma...ka. I'm inside. Anything after that is just dandy." he grunted out, unable to help giving a small thrust upwards. It seemed to be the right thing to do, for as soon as he did, Maka's pace increased, her fingernails digging into his shoulders hard enough that he knew he would have marks later.

The thought turned him on even more, and he bucked into her harder, loving the way his name poured from her mouth.

Her breasts bounced with the motions, and Soul magically found himself in an upright position with a nipple between his teeth with no memory of how he got that way.

But he didn't care since she was groaning how big he was and how good he felt and he thought she must be crazy because she was doing most of the work while he met her thrusts as best he could, his hands roaming her sweat soaked body, insatiable for the feel of more of her.

All at once the hands that had gripped his shoulder were clawing down his back and she was biting his neck, and his head was thrown back as he began to push her hips down on him with more force because he was running to the edge of a cliff and was about to fly.

Her walls began to shudder around him as she came, the tightness too much for him to take. They finished more or less at the same time, hoarsely crying out the other's name. He collapsed backwards, having just enough sense left to cradle her to him so she didn't roll off the bed. The cold air in the room quickly cooled their overheated bodies, and Maka reached down to pull the covers around them.

Soul rubbed her lower back, causing her to hum contentedly.

"You feelin' okay? Do you need anything?"

"Mmm. No, I'm fine. Great, in fact. May even be able to handle another round after a small nap."

"So we can add this to our list of things we're doing tomorrow?" he asked enthusiastically.

"You mean eat, watch movies, have wild animal sex? I'm sure we could arrange something."

They lay there, half asleep before Soul asked, "Hey, Maka? What are your thoughts on strip Monopoly?"

"...I think there's a good chance that can be arranged, too."

Soul grinned deviously as he snuggled down to sleep. Heh. She had forgotten she had given him permission to cheat.

Unknown to Soul, Maka was wearing an equally devious smirk. Silly Soul. He thought she had forgotten about the cheating. She couldn't wait to see the look on his face when he saw how many layers she was going to wear. She would let him get what he wanted, but she was going to make him work for it. A final thought struck her as she planned her actions. Maybe Maka could put that turkey call to good use. Soul wasn't the only one that was full of surprises...

GERMANY

A blond, middle aged man watched his mother from across the room, her knitting needles clacking furiously as soft, pastel colored yarn transformed into a small blanket.

"Mother? Who are you making that for?" he asked curiously, since as far as he knew, no one in the family was expecting.

She smiled at him with twinkling eyes, fingers never pausing. "I don't know why, but something tells me I'm closer to finally getting those green-eyed great grandchildren that I've been wanting."


End file.
